GRANTLAND SCIENCE
Does Joey Crawford Really Hate Tim Duncan? A Scientific Investigation
By Zach Lowe at
It was one of the lowest moments in the history of NBA officiating: Joey Crawford, hot-tempered as always, ejecting Tim Duncan during a late-season game against Dallas, ostensibly for chuckling on the bench. The fallout was worse than the act, which was pretty bad. Crawford had T’d up Duncan in another recent game, and Duncan accused Crawford of entering the Dallas game with “a personal vendetta” against him. The league suspended Crawford indefinitely, citing both the Duncan incident and “similar prior acts” — a reference to Crawford’s bizarre ejection/stare-down confrontation with then-Dallas coach Don Nelson in the playoffs four years earlier.












