Big three

[mavsfanforever]

Here were the Big Three in yesterday's game-

Joey Crawford, Dick Bavetta and Ted Bernhardt.

They played hard.

[DTL]

COURTSIDE JOURNAL
It's a bitter defeat, officially speaking
By Richie Whitt
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

SAN ANTONIO - Don't mess with Texas. Or Joey Crawford.

Minutes before tipoff of Wednesday night's Western Conference Finals Game 2, perpetually grimacing referee Joey Crawford sauntered over to Mavericks guard Nick Van Exel.

"Don't mess with me tonight," Crawford warned. "Because, like Muhammad Ali, I'm a baaaaad man."

And during the Spurs' 119-106 victory, Crawford indeed proved that he is baaaaad, man.

"He said it," Van Exel said of the ref's prediction, "and obviously he meant it."

Crawford not only ejected Mavs coach Don Nelson in the first quarter for refusing to sit down, he did it with an emphatic wave of his right arm, as though he thoroughly enjoyed it.

Which he probably did, considering his private disdain for Nellie spans two centuries.

"Please give me an example of how a coach shows up a ref," asked Mavs owner Mark Cuban, after being told Crawford's reasoning for the quick ejection was that Nelson was "showing me up."

It's likely the quickest, quirkiest ejection since umpire Terry Cooney tossed Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens in the second inning of the 1990 ALCS Game 4.

"If you know Joey Crawford, you know he is not going to take a bad look, not any trash-talking, nothing," TNT guest analyst Magic Johnson said. "He's been that way since I was playing."


A bye-five

The top five reasons Mavs assistant Del Harris marched on the court and volunteered for a drive-by ejection from Joey Crawford just before halftime:

1. Nellie called from the locker room: "Get back here Delmar, there's cold beer and no refs!"

2. Wanted to see up close if that grumpy old man was actually Crawford or the ghost of Walter Matthau.

3. Thought he spotted Clubber Lang in the audience and wanted an autograph from the real "Mr. T."

4. Joining what had to be a sparse TNT audience, he preferred NBC's Law & Order over the NBA's version.

5. 'Cause he $&@** wanted it!!!


Numbers game

62 Consecutive free throws Mark Cuban says he once made, making him a perfect candidate to play in this series.

Best and worst

Worst officiating II: Agenda or not, referee Ted Bernhardt was yelling R-rated directives ("Shut the [obscenity] up!&quot at Dallas' bench in the game's first three minutes. How bad was it? The Spurs led 60-34, but their fans were busy booing the refs. Through two games, there have been a combined 120 fouls and 165 free throws. Fans can't be getting their money's worth when the referees are the most important people on the court. The series is 1-1, but the refs are 0-2.

Worst officiating III: While his pathetic crew was producing more T's than Vanna White, NBA supervisor of officials Ed T. Rush stood just beneath TNT's booth furiously scribbling notes on a pad. Of course, if Crawford was to be reprimanded, the NBA's bureaucracy of secrecy would prevent anyone from finding out.

FWST link

[DTL]

just incredible.

[MFFL]

I cannot believe that the NBA allows this to happen. Refs should NOT talk to players before the game EVER!

[Simon2]

Did Joey Crawford really say that? The man obviously has an agenda or some power tripping going on. He should be suspended.

[Drbio]

That whole crew should be fired.

unbelievable.

[dude1394]

I'm curious what you'all think about the "coaching" of referees that seems to be going on during each series. You saw it happen in the last WCF between sac/lakers. Each coach spent the next game "coaching" the referees on what they should call on the next game. So what has happened in this series:

- First game refs favored dallas by DUH calling the same number of fouls on each team. Stop the presses. SA whines about it, media whines about it, Barkley the village idiot whines about it.. So in the next game SA gets the calls. They wind up getting about the same number of FTs in this game as last game but voila, the mavs don't, so ok.
- Second game nellie makes his statements DURING the game. Showing how utterly ridiculous the referees are being. To the point of having (this part is UNBELIEVABLE)
a. The REFEREE!!! giving a press conference/statement explaining his actions.
b. The league ISSUING a press release ALSO explaining the referee actions.
So the question is did nellie set the team up for GOOD officiating in the next game by him showing the league how ridiculous the refs were. Is this the new NBA, Cubes obviously DOES have a referee assistant crunching numbers, next I think he should hire something like a jury selection psycologist. It seems "coaching" the referees is every bit as important as coaching players.

Cubes is RIGHT ON. The referees in the NBA game is absolutely ruining it. I hadn't watched an NBA game for about 8 years until the mavs became contenders because I simply DO NOT understand what is/is not a foul anymore, still don't.

Sorry for the re-post, but I got no takers.

[aexchange]

i thought dick bavetta called a really fair game yesterday.

[DTL]

<< i thought dick bavetta called a really fair game yesterday. >>


you're suffering from a bad hang-over on a Thursday morning, aexchange? some people....

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[MavsFanFinley]

Honestly, I probably wouldn't have known there were 2 other refs with the way Crawford was blowing his whistle. I don't remember the other 2 killing any momentum the Mavs came up with last night.

[Hoopsmeister]

<< Did Joey Crawford really say that? The man obviously has an agenda or some power tripping going on. >>



That was pretty obvious from what Nellie got ejected for. Standing on the side line and *looking* at the ref.

[LRB]

Looks like Joey Crawford made up his mind who was going to win this game before it even started. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

[u2sarajevo]

Joey Crawford F'ed the Mavs.