At least (now) I get to see video evidence...thanks for linking it!

I was surprised by the first T on Duncan, but I gave the official the benefit of doubt. When the second T was called- and there were replays- I just could not believe it. Popovich did well to control himself on the court, and even after the game (he refused to make a public comment). I would have wanted to strangle that ref, on the court.

Right after the Duncan ejection the same ref called a foul on a SA player for no apparent reason, and the announcers strongly disagreed with that call too. It almost seemed like the ref wanted to help the Mavs win. If the Mavs play well enough, they should win, but not because a ref helped them. A question entered my mind- did Cuban have something to do with this? However, after reading about Crawford's past (thanks to Jasonsun's link) he seems to have a pathological problem.

The look of disbelief on Duncan's face was genuine.  A player is ejected for laughing while sitting on the bench.... What is this, Grade School?  Crawford said something like he felt it was a disrespect to the game or something like that. What a BS! This ref should never be allowed to officiate in an NBA game. He is letting his emotions influence the decisions he makes on the court. In this case it may have changed the outcome of the game.  SA was never the same team after Duncan's ejection. I wanted to see the Suns get the second seed, but not like this. A game has to be fair, as much as possible.

For the integrity of the league Stern needs to investigate and take a strong action, even a lifetime ban or a long suspension for Crawford. We don't need this kind of stuff in sports. Let the players fight out the outcome of the game, not the refs. I would not want the Suns win like this either.

This is going to fire up the Spurs so much, they will be a handful for any team they play. They will want to make sure that they win, no matter how the game is called by the officials. This is not good news for any of the other teams.

Assuming the NBA backs their ref and this guy is calling games during the playoffs and in the finals, this sort of sets a tone for complaining (or laughing) which could have a very bad effect on us (Amare).  Anybody like the idea of playing even one playoff game without Amare again?  Not me.

Hopefully the ref is at least taken out of the playoffs so we can enjoy some basketball.

He'll let this go.  I have no idea what the hell David Stern did, but it's as if the

http://www.probasketballrefs.com/
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not only know something we don't, but something they've been trying to hide regarding the NBA.  

I'm not buying their explanations.  

(from above)

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Q.  Who will be the new referees for 2006-2007 season?

A.  The NBA did not add anyone to the officiating staff this season. For 2006-2007 season, there are 59 officials.

It just gets worse....

Q.  I am an aspiring referee and I was wondering what type of things do you look for while reviewing the game tape and how do you document it on paper for improvement?

BE PREPARED FOR A LONG ANSWER

A:   As you and others may know, we record every game that we work on a portable external disc drive that we carry around with us from one arena to the next.  Like you, we often still refer to the recordings as "game tape" even though the tape is long gone.  The recordings give us an opportunity to look at plays during half time and make any appropriate adjustments in the second half, review calls before we file our post-game report with the main office, and assess any comments or criticism that we might receive from our bosses and others after the game.

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DrStrom interrupts to say "YOU LYING SWINE!  YOU'RE UNION, SO YOU DON'T GIVE A SHIT IF YOU MAKE A WRONG CALL...in fact, IT MAKES YOU POPULAR.
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If we ourselves are aware of any mistakes or problems that have occurred during a game, we check the video and include the play in our report.  Every game, there is at least one official NBA observer in the arena who watches the entire event, and submits a report to the main office noting every significant play and every call that the observer believes was incorrect.

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ANOTHER DR. STROM INTERDICTION:

Every game, there is at least one official NBA observer in the arena who watches the entire event, and submits a report to the main office noting every significant play and every call that the observer believes was incorrect

If they're on the ref dole, it doesn't mean shit.
"Observe" away that fucked-up phantom call in the 2004 Western Conference Finals, when Laker Bryant was never touched, yet shot it and some ref blew the whistle...and .4 seconds later, Bryant sent the ball toward the basket for a 3....+1 to make it a 4-point play.  

It screwed the Timberwolves....the Western team that actually challenged that Faker crew.

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In addition, our group supervisors and assistant group supervisors watch every game, either in person, on television, or by electronic recording.  The league's operations staff in New York and team personnel also review many of our games.  We receive reports that review the accuracy of our calls from all these folks.

Each report that we submit or receive usually includes the following information for every noted call or play:  the period, the game clock time, the players or other team personnel involved, the referee or referees involved, the play involved, the call that was made or omitted, the referee's position on the court (lead, trail or slot), the referee's coverage on the play (primary, secondary or dual), and an evaluation of whether there was a correct call, a correct non-call, an incorrect call, or an incorrect non-call.  In the case of incorrect calls or incorrect non-calls, there is also a note as to what the correct call should have been.  We save these reports and review game tape every day during the season.

Every few weeks, the NBA's training and development staff collects video clips of many of these reported calls and plays and edits them together in a single training video that is distributed to us so that we can continue to improve our skills.

We also put together our own training videos, because many of us serve as instructors at off-season training camps.  Once a year at the end of summer, our charitable and educational foundation, the National Basketball Referees Foundation, hosts an annual training conference for referees at all levels of the sport and others who are interested in our work, and one of things that we do is review video, discuss officiating mechanics and tradecraft, and strive to learn from past challenges.

When reviewing game tape, we often look at the following types of things:  proper/improper positioning on the court, available/blocked viewing angles of key plays, accuracy of calls and missed calls, correct/incorrect application of the rules, and technical problems with the game clock or shot clock.

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Stop.  Just stop.

This rhetoric is crap....great, they have some complex formula THAT DOESN'T WORK.  It's as if they're trying to confuse the rules so they can get away, to play South Florida shuffle board in early July.

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We don't want the playoffs to be a crapshoot- depending on who the refs are.

Sounds like Stern has no XXXX (put in whatever you want). The players and teams are totally at the mercy of the refs. Jason Kid was probably right about his 'three blind mice' comment and he was immediately fined. Amare has collected some T's for no reason. It could happen again, my fellow Suns fans.... can you imagine a playoff game without Amare or Raja or.....?