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That's what I wanted to know - if players corroborated Duncan's story.And with players on both sides telling me they heard the word "fight" tossed around on the floor, I have no reason to doubt the veracity of Duncan's account.
Interesting.
sorry if this has already been posted:
Duncan ejected? That's no joke
by: Marc Stein
posted: Sunday, April 15, 2007 | Feedback | Print Entry
filed under: Tim Duncan
DALLAS -- Tim Duncan grabs rebounds, but never headlines. Tim Duncan never lets us inside. Tim Duncan is boring.
Accurate scouting report, right?
Wrong. Duncan's dossier needs a major rewrite after Sunday.
An afternoon that was forecast to be more letdown than showdown wound up more compe ive and combustible than the Mavericks or Spurs ever imagined, capped by Avery Johnson summoning Dirk Nowitzki back into the game for the final nine-plus minutes. That helped the hosts rally for a 91-86 triumph which, more than anything, seemed to suggest that Johnson simply couldn't bear to lose a home game to their hated rivals from the south, even when the game meant virtually nothing to Dallas.
However . . .
Don't expect to hear much more about the on-court proceedings after the way Duncan (a) was ejected for just the second time in his career and then (b) uncharacteristically unloaded on veteran ref Joey Crawford.
Unloaded, actually, doesn't begin to cover it, since the famously reserved Duncan (at least in his dealings with the media) not only accused Crawford of having "a personal vendetta" against him but also revealed that Crawford challenged him to a fight.
Interested yet?
Duncan arrived at the final regular-season weekend of his 10th NBA season with just one overturned ejection* in all that time and seven techs for the season. But twice in a span of 1:16 in Sunday's third quarter, Duncan was hit with Ts by Crawford.
While sitting on the bench.
The first was more surprising than shocking. Manu Ginobili was called for a foul and Duncan -- still simmering after an offensive foul that sent him to the bench moments earlier -- voiced a protest from his seat at referee LeRoy Richardson. Crawford swooped in to T him up. Unusual, yes, but not unprecedented.
The second? Call it a full-blown stunner.
Duncan was still seated and laughing animatedly on the bench after a foul had been whistled on Fabricio Oberto. Undoubtedly feeling he was being shown up, Crawford hit Duncan with T No. 2.
It was a scene reminiscent of the Western Conference finals in 2003 when Crawford ejected then-Mavs coach Don Nelson for standing silently (but defiantly) near the scorer's table in San Antonio after Nelson had been ordered to return to the bench.
The real show, though, would take place at Duncan's locker ... after the Spurs fizzled without him in the fourth.
An extended look at the quotes can be found here, but the summary is plenty good: Duncan explained in great detail how Crawford "has a personal problem with me" and repeatedly asked him before the technicals, "Do you want to fight?"
Duncan also insisted that he barely spoke to Crawford during the game and that he thinks he can play through any carryover when the Spurs and Crawford inevitably cross paths in the playoffs.
"I got to watch what I do, I guess," Duncan said. "I guess I can't laugh anymore. I can't enjoy the game. I'll have to sit there and put my head between my legs."
My best guesses from courtside:
1. Even though the second technical was one too many -- and even though a good chunk of public opinion is going to ac ulate on Duncan's side -- he's a lock to get fined for his comments.
In December, remember, Jason Kidd was docked $20,000 for lashing out after a bungled call in Detroit sealed a one-point loss for the Nets. Didn't matter that Kidd was right about Vince Carter drawing a foul on Rasheed Wallace. Didn't matter that the league office deemed it a missed call as well. Kidd referred to the refs that night as "three blind mice" and Duncan just said a lot more than that.
2. Expect Crawford to be disciplined as well. The difference: Punishments for referees generally aren't made public, so we might not immediately know about any fines and/or suspensions.
Yet there's no way this can be downplayed in the league office. Duncan does have a well-chronicled rep as one of the league's most frequent complainers to referees and had to have said more to Crawford over the course of the afternoon than he claims. But a referee suggesting a fight to settle things, even in jest, is no way for a referee to calm tensions, which is one of their jobs.
And with players on both sides telling me they heard the word "fight" tossed around on the floor, I have no reason to doubt the veracity of Duncan's account.
3. This one really isn't a guess at all: I can't wait until the next Spurs game Crawford officiates. Should be, dare we say, pretty interesting.
*About that overturned ejection? Some good trivia I had forgotten, courtesy of our pal Johnny Ludden from the San Antonio Express-News: Duncan's only other career ejection -- on Feb. 4, 2002, after an exchange with Kevin Garnett got both guys tossed -- was rescinded by the league a day later.
That's what I wanted to know - if players corroborated Duncan's story.And with players on both sides telling me they heard the word "fight" tossed around on the floor, I have no reason to doubt the veracity of Duncan's account.
Interesting.
And so the media has decided that today is going to be the day that Duncan has the reputation of complaining to the officials. Yesterday, he rarely ever complained about fouls in their player manual. I guess it got updated.
Thanks for posting this.
Hey, great post. Many thanks!
oh come on now, Duncan has been a HUGE whiner the past few seasons, this is no surprise. I'm sure plenty of Spurs fans can admit to this.
Kind of a crappy article.
why? I thought there was some good info in there
It's awfully lukewarm and doesn't give a sense of what happened.
I think it depicts what happened fairly well.
I find the article good. What's wrong?
It depicts what happened well because we've all been covering it all night long.
Just too lukewarm IMO. That's all. But ESPN has to feign objectivity.
Of course, anybody who watches the game knows it. But the national media like dumbass Mike Breen always remarks at how well behaved he is, etc. because of how he was his rookie season.
Thanks for deciding the 2 seed in the WC Joey...stupidly.
He should be fired.
Not only did he decide it...he killled any interest remaining the in the regular season.
Now that I think about it...I still would rather have Crawford than Bavetta. So maybe fire him after the season.
And I've never seen anything to indicate Duncan is a liar...and as noted elsewhere, Crawford is a convicted felon.
ahh gotcha
...and to think it was only last year Duncan felt like this in post game interviews
Tim Duncan Releases Decade Worth Of Pent-Up Emotion After Spurs Preseason Loss
SAN ANTONIO—Star Spurs center Tim Duncan has issued a public apology for his "unacceptable, inexcusable behavior" last Saturday night following a preseason loss to the Orlando Magic, saying that frustration and disappointment with his low-scoring, six-rebound performance caused "ten years' worth of unexpressed emotions to burst out of me like… like something I don't even know what."
Enlarge Image Tim Duncan R
An "agitated" Duncan responds to reporters' questions in a brusque tone of voice at a slightly elevated volume.
No criminal charges, police reports, or even complaints have been filed against Duncan, who was last seen leaving the Alamodome after giving what reporters are terming "mildly animated" answers to their post-game questions at a "slightly elevated" volume.
"I simply lost control during my post-game comments, and I did not give the press the full half-hour they are en led to," said Duncan, who is on record as calling the Spurs' play during the game "bad," "real bad," "awful," and "very, very bad indeed" several times over the course of the 28 minutes he spent with reporters. "Anyone who knows me knows I never use language like that. I can only ask the city of San Antonio to forgive me for my outburst and give me a second chance."
"I was angry," Duncan added. "I even felt mad. I never want to go through that again."
Duncan claims that, after speaking to reporters, he was filled with a level of emotion that caused his memory to become unclear. However, Duncan is fairly certain that he turned away from reporters after insufficiently thanking them for the interview, walked to the parking lot with unusual briskness, and climbed into his car in a blatantly agitated fashion.
Witnesses' accounts bear out Duncan's version of events, with several onlookers saying Duncan "slammed" the door of his 1992 Buick LeSabre closed before driving off. Spurs guard Tony Parker, whose car was near Duncan's, denied rumors that Duncan was muttering grumpily to himself, but said Duncan did exhale audibly twice while getting his car keys out.
"Looking back on it, I think he was sighing in a frustrated or even exasperated manner," Parker said. "I thought about saying something, but I didn't know what. I'd never seen him like that. Frankly, I was a little scared."
"I should not have driven in that condition," said Duncan, who has implored the children of San Antonio not to emulate his actions or regard them as "cool." "I know better than to operate a motor vehicle while upset or in a highly emotional state of mind, but I did it anyway. I only wish I had exercised the self-restraint to let it go at that."
Traffic cameras tracked Duncan traveling from the Alamodome at up to seven miles per hour over the speed limit, twice driving through yellow lights, to a convenience store near his home, where the store's security cameras show him purchasing highly caffeinated beverages and several unhealthy snacks. A clerk at the store says Duncan consumed three of the soft drinks in his car while listening to barely audible music on his car's radio before driving off several minutes later.
Duncan's mid-'90s four-door sedan was found in the parking lot of his nondescript apartment building Sunday morning, having impacted a tree at what insurance company investigators say was an "extremely low" rate of speed, inflicting almost $140 worth of damage to the car during what they say seems to be an abortive attempt to park while slightly jittery from an excess of mild sugar stimulants.
Enlarge Image Tim Duncan Jump R
"I do not wish to discuss that at this time," Duncan said. "I'm just glad no one was hurt while I was experimenting with Coke, or Pepsi, or root beer, or whatever it was. I just remember going into my apartment, turning on the television, unblocking Showtime, and calling up a few girls from church to say ' o' and 'how are you doing.' Frankly I'm mortified, and in light of my actions, I wouldn't blame them for being cross with me in return. I was brought up to respect women, not to place telephone calls to them at what might possibly be well past their bedtimes."
Duncan recalls nothing else until 9:30 the next morning, when he woke up two hours late, unshaven, and dressed in unusually brightly colored clothing. Duncan immediately contacted the police, and was relieved to find he had in fact broken no laws.
Duncan has assigned himself 120 hours of community service working in hospitals, neighborhood improvement projects, and on highway-beautification crews for his "reckless endangerment" of the people of San Antonio.
"I promise you," the dry-eyed Duncan said in an unusually well-modulated voice, "you will never see anything like that from me again."
Your an idiot.
and by the way "idiot' it's "you're" not "your"
Wow what a burn. Maybe next time you should capitalize the first letter in a word when beginning a new sentence.
and by the way "idiot' it's "you're" not "your"
Further proving that you're an idiot. Are there anymore typos you'd like to point out?
Wow what a burn. Maybe next time you should capitalize the first letter in a word when beginning a new sentence.
Further proving that you're an idiot. Are there anymore typos you'd like to point out?
not really, but if you're gonna call someone an idiot, may as well spell correctly, no?
and next time I post, I'll be sure to double check with you if it's okay to post an article that was obviously a joke, you ing PMS'ing
I appreciate the advice
technicals on THE SIXTH MAN and Amuseddaysleeper
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