Joe Crawford To Ref First Spurs Final Since Trying To Fight Tim Duncan
Earlier today, the NBA announced the officials for Game 2 of the NBA Finals tonight. They are, in order of importance, Joey Crawford and two other guys you won't know are on the court.
Crawford and the Spurs have a history and this will be the first time he referees an NBA Finals game that includes the Spurs since 2007, when he ejected Tim Duncan from a regular season game against the Mavericks for laughing on the bench. According to Duncan, Crawford asked him if he wanted to fight.
Crawford ejected Duncan from San Antonio's loss to Dallas on Sunday after calling a second technical foul on the Spurs star while he was laughing on the bench.
"He looked at me and said, 'Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?"' Duncan said after the incident. "If he wants to fight, we can fight. I don't have any problem with him, but we can do it if he wants to. I have no reason why in the middle of a game he would yell at me, 'Do you want to fight?"'
Crawford was suspended for the rest of the regular season and all of the postseason that year. The Spurs would eventually win the Finals that year; defeating LeBron James's Cavaliers.
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