Joey Crawford reffing game 2

[cheguevara]

That was Foster, not Joey.

ah ok

but he does not care to eject players on home or road teams alike. He did eject Duncan for laughing in Dallas.

[timvp]

This basically ensures that Dan Crawford and Scott Foster are the crew chiefs for Games 3 and 4

That'd be good news about Dan Crawford at home. He used to be my favorite ref but he's gotten pretty damn horrible now. I don't know when exactly he fell off but he went from elite to only holding on because of his good reputation.

You want Joey Crawford on the road and you want Dan Crawford at home.

FromWayDowntown, who do you think are the best refs today? I think the best was Javie in recent years. Some other really good refs have retired recently.

IMO, it might be Joey as long as he doesn't get into one of his drama queen moods.

[cheguevara]

oh JOey is one of the best. Problem is, most likely than not there'lll be some drama. I'd say there's 50% chance of controvesy and drama for game 2. The drama won't help either team directly. It'll just be a distraction, and distractions usually help extend series rather than let series run their natural course.

plus IMO distractions usually always help the team that's losing in the long run.

[siraulo23]

Is this the only game Crawford is gonna ref in the finals?

[cheguevara]

Is this the only game Crawford is gonna ref in the finals?

nobody knows. but I'd say probably not, unless he really s game 2

[moisaenz]

It does not matter what we think, Crawford will ref, teams got to deal with it

[Kool Bob Love]

It does not matter what we think, Crawford will ref, teams got to deal with it

This. Get him out of the way now than later.

[Aztecfan03]

Wasn't he part of the crew in game 5 or 6 of the indiana-pacers series that everyone was saying they wouldn't ref again this year because they did a horrible job in that game?

[nkdlunch]

it is what it is. I rather have joey in game 2 with a 1-0 lead than in a must win game

[weeks]

I will take him in Game 2. He has been damn fair to the Spurs (perhaps overly fair) in his last handful of games.

yep, i think a man in his position and with his history goes the extra mile to try and avoid anything that might give people the impression he's still harboring bad blood towards the spurs. he can't afford any more incidents i think.

[TheGreatYacht]

That'd be good news about Dan Crawford at home. He used to be my favorite ref but he's gotten pretty damn horrible now. I don't know when exactly he fell off but he went from elite to only holding on because of his good reputation.

You want Joey Crawford on the road and you want Dan Crawford at home.

FromWayDowntown, who do you think are the best refs today? I think the best was Javie in recent years. Some other really good refs have retired recently.

IMO, it might be Joey as long as he doesn't get into one of his drama queen moods.

Nope. Steve Javie is corrupt. At least his analysis on ESPN is. He never even criticizes refs. Refs almost always have the right calls according to Javie which we all know is BS. He's there to "defend them" refs like this dude says. \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/

[dbreiden83080]

Great he has no choice but to be fair or face the obvious questions..

[SpurCapita]

That'd be good news about Dan Crawford at home. He used to be my favorite ref but he's gotten pretty damn horrible now. I don't know when exactly he fell off but he went from elite to only holding on because of his good reputation.

I've noticed the same thing. Quality-wise, his career bifurcates into -'stache and post-'stache.

[jmanu20]

He reffed Game 6 vs. GS an Game 3 vs. Memphis, BOTH of which were Spurs wins. I will agree with others who have said that he is actually a good ref to have on the road because he will not be fazed by the home crowd. Plus, if you consider Joey's history with the Spurs, and the recent criticism about him in the Pacers-Heat series, you gotta think that a major screw-up would be his last hurrah in the league. The Heat will get bull calls because they are the Heat, but I don't know that it will be as bad as some of you think tomorrow.

[Kidd K]

He's rep is being a Spurs hater to being the worse ref you can have as a home team. I think in the end he becomes more painful to the home team because he makes an effort to not be influenced by the crowd to a fault.

That's the only thing I respect about him.

[FromWayDowntown]

That'd be good news about Dan Crawford at home. He used to be my favorite ref but he's gotten pretty damn horrible now. I don't know when exactly he fell off but he went from elite to only holding on because of his good reputation.

I have the same feeling about Danny that you do. He was always that guy whose crew would just let teams play, interfere as little as possible in the game, and leave me (as a fan) feeling like I had seen a game in which the officials had mostly stayed out of it. His famous (at least among long-time, hard core Spurs fans) statement to the captains before Game 3 of the 2003 West Finals that they were going to let the teams play playground rules and call their own fouls (evoking saucer-sized eyes from Michael Finley) was sort of typical of that approach. I know Mavs fans will say that Danny had it out for them, but for much of the time that the Mavs were getting "hosed" by Crawford, they were playing a relatively soft brand of basketball that lent itself to losing games -- particularly road games -- called by officials who allowed a lot of contact.

You want Joey Crawford on the road and you want Dan Crawford at home.

At the very least, you want Joey on the road because if he does choose a particular night as the one to screw your team (for whatever reason), you'd certainly prefer that to happen in a game that you're less likely to win. With that said, the Spurs haven't seen Joey at home in the playoffs much since the Duncan incident in 2007. He had Game 5 of the 2008 First Round series with Phoenix and, famously, Game 4 of the 2008 WCF. Since that no call killed the 2008 Spurs, Joey's had exactly 1 playoff game in San Antonio -- Game 1 of the 2012 West Finals. In the last 2 playoff seasons, the Spurs have gone 4-1 in games that Joey called and have won 3 of those on the road -- Game 4 at Clippers in 2012, Game 6 at Golden State, and Game 3 at Memphis; the one loss was Game 6 at OKC last year.

The irony of Spurs' fans dread of having Joey call a playoff game these days is that the history doesn't really bear out that fear, even since 2007. All time, the Spurs are 22-15 (.595) in playoff games that Joey has called; 3 of those were before David Robinson arrived -- since 1990, the Spurs are 21-13 (.618) in playoff games with Joey. Among officials who've called a lot of Spurs playoff games, that's a pretty high win rate (it's higher than the Spurs general winning percentage in all playoff games since 1990 (158-108 (.594)):

.682 -- Derrick Stafford (15-7)
.676 -- Ron Garretson (23-11)
.651 -- Danny Crawford (28-15)
.647 -- Greg Willard (11-6)*
.645 -- Steve Javie (20-11)*
.640 -- Mike Callahan (16-9)
.636 -- Ken Mauer (14-8)
.625 -- Scott Foster (10-6)
.618 -- Joey Crawford (21-13)
.615 -- Bernie Fryer (16-10)*
.611 -- Joe Derosa (11-7)*
.595 -- Bavetta (22-15)
.588 -- Tom Washington (10-7)
.556 -- Monty McCutchen (10-8)
.531 -- Bob Delaney (17-15)*
.529 -- Bill Spooner (9-8)
.500 -- Jack Nies (13-13)*
.459 -- Bennett Salvatore (17-20)
.455 -- Joe Forte (10-12)*
.414 -- Eddie F. Rush (12-17)

(*-no longer calling NBA games).

The Spurs are actually pretty close to .500 on the road with Joey since 1990 (8-9 (.471)) -- a number that is better than their overall road winning percentage (.462 (61-71)).

FromWayDowntown, who do you think are the best refs today? I think the best was Javie in recent years. Some other really good refs have retired recently.

IMO, it might be Joey as long as he doesn't get into one of his drama queen moods.

I agree with the idea that when Joey just sticks to calling balls and strikes, he remains one of the elite play callers in the game. The problem is his apparent need to interject himself into games and make things about himself for whatever reason. I actually think Javie's an interesting parallel. When Javie was young-er, he had some of that same willingness to make it about himself and he was a poorer official for it, I always thought. Once he grew out of that, he was probably the very best in the league at just calling games. I think that's the thing that made him such a great official to have on the road; even if he didn't actually favor the road team, he just stuck to calling the game no matter the environment and therefore didn't tend to favor the home team.

I'm harder pressed to say who's the best these days. While I think Monty McCutchen has some quirks, I think he's remarkably accurate when he chooses to just call games. The same was true of Scott Foster (in my view) until a few years ago -- Foster seems like he's become something of a game manipulator to me and seems, at times, more interested in ensuring there's a good show than in ensuring that there's a well-called game. Those are pretty easy ones, though.

If I had to pick three who I think do a pretty good job most of the time, I would probably point to Mike Callahan (who I think might be the best technician among the officials), Ken Mauer (who hasn't always been good, even when he's been considered to be elite), and Ron Garretson (who hasn't been assigned to a Finals game since the Horry game in 2005). Tom Washington, Derrick Stafford, and a few others are, in my view, fairly reliable as well but seem influenced by extraneous things at times. Those are pretty visceral opinions about the officials who seem to frequently be vindicated by replay on calls that seem questionable in real time.

[GSH]

I know Mavs fans will say that Danny had it out for them, but for much of the time that the Mavs were getting "hosed" by Crawford, they were playing a relatively soft brand of basketball that lent itself to losing games -- particularly road games -- called by officials who allowed a lot of contact.

There are two problems with that:
1. Dallas played the exact same "relatively soft brand of basketball" against all the other refs in the league, and compiled a 48-41 record. Against Dan Crawford, their record was 1-16. That's a 54% winning record vs. a 6% winning record. The Mavs also have a slight FT edge in the 89 playoff games not called by Dan Crawford (slightly more than +1 FT per game). But in the 17 playoff games called by Dan Crawford, they averaged -6.8 FT's per game. That is a mammoth difference. Same team, same "brand of basketball" - night and day results.

2. Worse than the raw record, in my opinion, is Crawford's record against the spread when calling Mavericks' games. In playoff games not called by Dan Crawford, the Mavs are 47-41-1 against the spread. Over time, records against the spread come pretty damned close to reaching .500. But when Dan Crawford is calling the playoff game, the Mavs are 3-14 against the spread. That is absolutely ing outrageous. And I understand that it actually started affecting the line in Vegas, and he STILL manages to beat it. If that were possible, over time, all the books in Vegas would be out of business. And they aren't even close. Like I said, that ought to catch your eye even more than the raw W/L record.

[DOS CHAINZ]

Good Time to rest the Big 3

[polandprzem]

For those who believes in things.
Not a good sign now when timvp likes the crew for game 2 as he did not liked the crew for game 1 ...