And, still, the NBA *keeps* assigning Crawford. He worked a Game 7 last night, come to think of it. Imagine that...

If Mark Davis did the exact same thing then maybe we do not even know this happened. Most people even the media has no idea who most officials are in the NBA by name. They mostly know their name if you are a long time official that has been around for years. And there are not many that have been officiating longer than Crawford. I still do not remember the name of the official that tried to block the FT shooter a couple of years ago and I could not tell you if and what games that person has worked. And I would guess that I probably do not know if and when that official has worked since. And that is not because of Crawford's antics, that is because Crawford is on a lot of big games a lot over a season.

Peace

I'm not a Crawford basher... but it definitely does seem that he is involved more frequently than just about anyone else in these sort of oddball one-of-a-kind situations.

Maybe that is because people point out things about him they ignore or do not notice with other officials. I have seen other situations where that were unusual take place in the NBA and no one goes around trying to put it on the specific official. I have seen Crawford give a T and people want to make more out of who gave the T, even if the situation was obvious.

Peace

Is there video from this play, because I have not seen this play? Was Crawford doing it to get attention?

And how is that about being on TV? He seemed to get caught in a bad position and tried to not get in the way of the shooter. We have all been there.

Peace

Yes, it happens. But of all of the possible avenues for him to take, going in front of a shooter, especially as he is shooting, shouldn't be one of them.

I am not saying it is ideal or that he could not have come another route, but we also do not know how much room was on the court. There are not always that much room even in NBA arenas on the sideline and not with people that are standing up too.

Peace

That's great. I can probably think of at least 10 officials that could have done at just as well, if not better. However, like at all levels, official assignments aren't always based 100% on performance.

I believe that was Courtney Kirkland.

How often has a corny play been discussed here involving Dick Bavetta? I can't think of any. A lot of it is on-court demeanor. I think Bavetta has him beat......

Many times. I remember discussions about his mechanics or situations (and if you look on YouTube you can probably find some videos too). But keep in mind we are in a YouTube, social media era. And Bavetta has not worked as many big games in the past few years. I know I had to look up to see if Bavetta was still working, because I almost never see him anymore and certainly do not see him on the TNT or ESPN broadcasts many times.

For the record, Bavetta has not worked any playoff games for the last couple of years. And he has not worked a NBA Finals since 2008. So we do not talk about him because he is not working when Joey is or when the playoffs are going on. Perspective.

Peace

I know there have been plenty of times as the new Lead that I've had to decide which way to go because a much faster player is taking a path down the court. Fortunately, none of my games have millionaires sitting directly on top of the court, so I have options outside the boundary line.

If this play is being used as some sort of indictment against Crawford, then it must be a really weak case. :rolleyes:

And they are never based on fans' evaluations of performance.

I don't think anyone is indicting anyone, rather just pointing out yet another corny situation that Crawford found himself in.

To me, running in front of a shooter isn't even an option. Either hold up short and mark the 3 or find room behind, along the sideline. I'm not sure if Joe even realized where he was at on the court! The angle given doesn't show the amount of room available on the sideline, and I'm not assuming that there wasn't room. It appears though, that some have seen a different angle that shows otherwise....