Today's Official Report for Finals Game 1 6/3

[FLCeltsFan]

Today's Officials are:
Joey Crawford
Overall Home Team W/L 40/33
Playoff Home Team Win % 73%
Fouls called per game 48.8
Foul % Called on Road Team 52.7%
Road Team Techs/game 1
Home Team Techs/game 1.1
Crawford has been officiating games since 1977 and has officiated more play-off games (266+) and NBA Finals Games (38+) than any other active referee. Crawford officiated two of the Celtics games so far in the playoffs with mixed results. Game 5 of the Cleveland series was very well officiated and the Celtics won it. However, his second game was game 5 of the Orlando series, which was one of the worst officiated games of the playoffs. Watch game 5 again and you will see a host of missed and blown calls that give Orlando the edge. Flip a coin as to which we will see today. There is no shortage of controversy surrounding Joey Crawford, the biggest of which was a suspension for tossing Tim Duncan for laughing on the bench and then challenging him to a fight. He is known for his quickness to call technical fouls but also doesn't tend to be influenced by the home crowd as much as many other refs seem to be. In the 2008 Playoffs, Crawford was chosen to officiate Game 4 of the Western Conference final between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers. In the closing seconds of the game, there was a no-call where the Spurs' Brent Barry was unquestionably fouled by Derek Fisher. Crawford was the closest official to the call, and the NBA later apologized for the lack of a call. Crawford was also one of the refs who was involved in the income tax evasion convictions and was suspended at that time as well. And in the Suns 2010 first round against the Blazers, Crawford made what was possibly the worst foul call of all time when he called Marcus Camby for a foul and put Steve Nash on the line. You can judge for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaZIAXJJDKQ&feature=player_embedded

Joe DeRosa
Overall Home Team W/L 44/26
Playoff Home Team Win % 56%
Fouls called per game 50.9
Foul % Called on Road Team 52.2%
Road Team Techs/game 1.3
Home Team Techs/game 1.2
DeRosa has officiated over 1,000+ regular season games, 75+ play-off games, and 5 NBA Finals games. DeRosa was the crew chief for Game 1 against the Heat when the melee broke out and KG was ejected. He was also the crew chief for the game 4 win vs Cleveland. and the Game 2 win over Orlando. Like Crawford, he tends to be quick to call technicals. DeRosa was the referee who was suspended for a game for throwing the ball at a fan in the Orlando game.

Derrick Stafford
Overall Home Team W/L 45/29
Playoff Home Team Win % 43%
Fouls called per game 52.4
Foul % Called on Road Team 50.4%
Road Team Techs/game 0.1
Home Team Techs/game 1.3
Stafford is currently in his 19th season as an NBA referee. He has officiated 1,000+ regular season games and 60+ play-off games. He worked for the US Postal Service for 10 years, which may explain his quick trigger when it comes to technical fouls. Yet another official that is known to be quick to call technical fouls. Stafford called Game 5 in the Miami series, which the Celtics won, and game 4 in the Orlando series, which the Celtics lost. This crew, all of whom are quick to call technicals, makes me wonder if maybe Perk should just plan to sit out the next game right now.

[connerhenry43]

why not reward a ref who threw a ball at a fan?

not to mention crawford gets worse and worse with every game he officiates.

[Chris]

I actually like Crawford for this game.  He is a hothead, but he is a very good and fair ref when it comes to calling the game.  The C's are going to have to keep their composure, but they needed to anyways.  I don't think Crawford is going to stand for the Lakers to try to bait the C's (Perk) into technicals, and I think he (unlike many refs) is not afraid to call the technical on one player, rather than making the bailout double-tech call.

[Bahku]

Ugh! Rotten line-up ... but if we play our best ball, we'll take the officials right out of the game. Perk's gonna have to be very careful, though ... blech! (TP as usual, Fl ... thanks!)

[wdleehi]

It is the time for the Celtics to play so well, the officials do not matter.

[Bankshot]

Really sad that we have to worry about who the officials are.

[stoyko]

I am amazed that Derose gets to ref another playoff game after the ball throwing incident. Well maybe this time he'll go after a Laker fan.

[Kwhit10]

Crawford's home team playoff win% is much higher than the other two. (~73% vs. 43% and 56%).

I don't think this crew will sway either way really.

[twinbree]

Hope Perk is ready to zip it all night because this a T trigger happy group if I ever saw one. And he has to be very careful setting screens because Fisher flops his way around every screen and he can't get frustrated by that. We also need to keep the complaining to the refs to a minimum so look at me Crawford can call a good game and not get sidetracked by his ego trying to assert authority.

[vl819]

We are a force that cannot be stopped by neither the Lakers or the refs...
 

[Drucci]

Ugh... DeRosa and Joey Crawford, the NBA strikes hard to start the Finals.

Hopefully the refs won't be much of a factor and call the game fairly.

[Spilling Green Dye]

Great report on the officials.

I have no idea what to expect from Crawford tonight (except that he doesn't give a darn what the Lakers fans think), but he owes an apology to Rondo for that awful tech he gave him in game 5 in Orlando.  Hopefully Rondo isn't on Crawford's side.

DeRosa seems fine to me.

Overall I think these refs are quick to technicals but generally allow a pretty physical game, so I think we could benefit there.

Thankfully Eddie Rush is not reffing.. he absolutely frightens me after seeing him in Game 5 in Orlando!

[Mr October]

As long as we don't get jobbed like in game 5 vs Orlando, where one player is given a free pass to extend the series, I don't give a crap about the refs potential influence. Lets play our game and win!!!

[Amonkey]

I think the clear biased calls like game 4 and 5 will calm down since there is no reason to extend the series (yet).  However, I do expect superstar calls for Kobe and quick whistles for Perk and Sheed due to their "fame".  Basically, the usual bad calls.

[slamtheking]

if ever there was a line-up of thug refs, this would be it.  can't for the life of me fathom how either Crawford or Derosa are allowed to ref a postseason game (or any game for that matter).

Oh, to have Earl Strom back -- a great ref that allowed the players to play, gave no one preferential calls and didn't get sucked into allowing home court favoritism.