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| What did Dallas do to Danny? (Credit: Icon SMI) |
Various media outlets reported yesterday that NBA Referee Danny Crawford seems to have it in for the Mavericks during the playoffs. Last night's 101-87 Mavs win over Portland appears to confirm that bias, so Crawford should be fired.
According to the report, the Mavs are 2-16 in the playoffs when Crawford officiates and 48-41 when he's not on the floor. Dallas has also been called for 2.3 more fouls per game than their opponents and averaged 6.8 fewer free throws than their opponents in playoff games Crawford worked heading into last night.
When David Stern saw this report yesterday, he probably called Crawford immediately (something to do with that Tim Donaghy thing), which might explain why the Mavs shot 26 free throws last night and Portland shot 27. The Blazers were called for 22 fouls and Dallas was called for 20. Each team got 1 technical. What a coincidence!
Stern knows that everyone is watching NBA officiating very closely, just looking for stories like this. BD (before Donaghy) it's possible that the report on Crawford would have been dismissed as coincidence, but not AD (after Donaghy). Stern is extremely conscious of the NBA's image in the AD era, perhaps more than any commissioner in any sports league and now he has yet another problem with an official. How can anyone trust Crawford to officiate a game fairly? And forcing Crawford to even things out as Stern did last night isn't any better than allowing him to exercise his usual bias. Sometimes perception is more important than reality, and Crawford has a perception problem. Stern needs to fire him now or this issue will continue to haunt the NBA.
UPDATE: Donaghy weighs in on Crawford on ESPN Radio Dallas: "[It's] absolutely not [a coincidence that Dallas is 2-16 when Crawford refs their games]. I think that would be absolutely impossible to put that as a mere coincidence. It's no secret that when Ed Rush was supervisor of officials, he had a hatred for Mark Cuban and Danny Crawford was one of Rush's right-hand guys. So he carried out what he thought would be in the best interest of him being in the good graces with the supervisor of officials. Some guys enjoy sticking it to Mark; it's no secret."
UPDATE: Donaghy weighs in on Crawford on ESPN Radio Dallas: "[It's] absolutely not [a coincidence that Dallas is 2-16 when Crawford refs their games]. I think that would be absolutely impossible to put that as a mere coincidence. It's no secret that when Ed Rush was supervisor of officials, he had a hatred for Mark Cuban and Danny Crawford was one of Rush's right-hand guys. So he carried out what he thought would be in the best interest of him being in the good graces with the supervisor of officials. Some guys enjoy sticking it to Mark; it's no secret."
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