Joey Crawford Decided to Make the Game about himself (again)

[RedsCeltics34]

Surprised he didn't challenge Pavlo to a fight after the game...

[Jon]

I just can't believe with all the controversies surrounding him and the outright breaking of the law/rules (taxes and Duncan), Stern gave him his job back. He should've been fired long ago.

[nickagneta]

It was almost like Crawford went to the scorer's table and saw that the Celtics had a 7 shot edge in FTs entering the last quarter and decided that he had to even things up some.

A 12-2 FT edge for New York in the final quarter even though the Celtics remained aggressive offensively? So New york went from a team that couldn't help but hack because they were getting beaten so often on the defensive end of the floor to a team that played great defense without contact?

Boston the team that was playing outstanding aggressive 3rd quarter defense and continued to in the 4th was suddenly hacking people at will?

This belies both teams reputations. Its not what my eyes watched. And yet a 12-2 FT advantage occurred because Joey Crawford says that was a properly officiated quarter.\

Unreal.

[Finkelskyhook]

Simple....When we have messiah rules, Snitchster rules, Pierce rules, Los Nash Rules, Wade rules, etc...It's easy for the Donaghys, Crawfords, Bavettas, Fosters...ETC...To mold and manipulate games to get the result they want within the 5-6 different rulebooks they can officiate out of. 

[CoachBo]

I just can't believe with all the controversies surrounding him and the outright breaking of the law/rules (taxes and Duncan), Stern gave him his job back. He should've been fired long ago.

Uncle Fester's credibility as an official has been gone for years. It's mind-boggling that he still has a job.

[slamtheking]

refs should have been locked out along with the players and had a new agreement for ref oversight forced on them.   Refs like Crawford and Bavetta need to be kicked out of the league

[GreenFaith1819]

Well, C's fans don't be too upset.

San Antonio's been on the receiving end of some love from Joey, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOygTd1NWCM

Incredible.

Timmy should've just sat on the bench with a towel in his mouth, like Jerry Tarkanian or something.

[vinnie]

It is absolutely incredible that this guy is still officiating in the league, and even worse that he gets assigned to marquis games. Every time this guy steps on to the court, the league loses a bit of whatever credibility it has left. Come to think of it, there is no credibility in this league anymore.

The officiating in this league continues to get worse, which is hard to believe, given that it is already the worst officiating in pro sports.

[nba is the worst]

It's hard to dispute what everyone has already posted - he's the #1 reason for my choice of screen name.

Just to see that bald SOB on the court is irritating!

[igorsure]

Yes, referee made mistakes. But.

Celtics lose because both Marquis and Garnet missed there last shots. Melo made his last shot, Celtics don't. Who else could be blamed?

[vinnie]

^   ^    ^    ^    ^
Agree with the above comment. Despite the horrendous Joe Crawford, the reason the Celtics lost is that they could not score in the last 3 minutes of the game -- same as last year and the year before.

[SamuelAdams]

And then to listen to Steve Kerr cover it up.

[footey]

Yes, referee made mistakes. But.

Celtics lose because both Marquis and Garnet missed there last shots. Melo made his last shot, Celtics don't. Who else could be blamed?

1. It should not have come down to that last shot, but for Joey's rule.
2. Pierce or Ray would have normally taken that shot. Because Pierce was out, it was easier for Knicks to take cover Ray.

[Celtics18]

I just dont understand the Pavlo tech... Did he give him a tech for exagerrating contact/ minor "flopping" (even though Melo threw two bows at him)? Or did he say something...I dont understand.

I think this is the only explanation for the tech on Sasha.  It looked like the only possible explanation could be a "flopping" call.  It looked like an offensive foul on 'Melo to me, albeit not a very hard one (Anthony's elbows aren't considered a foul unless he nearly knocks someone out with it like he did to Rondo).   Sasha definitely tried to sell it and Crawford wasn't buying it so he T-ed him up.  Bad call, but I think that was the rationale.

As to the foul on Marquis' strip, that one was painful.  I know he reached around from behind, but I don't think the strip could have been cleaner.

[guava_wrench]

If Joey Crawford is such a problem, then we have some really stupid players for challenging him.