I know the story has been neglected by most of the writers on the pro hoops beat, not just the East Coast scribblers this time around, but have you forgotten, too? Wasn’t it Crawford who was suspended last April for challenging Tim Duncan to a fight?

You know better than anyone that the NBA doesn’t need another referee scandal on its hands, even if the hoops hacks have buried that other referee scandal you tried so desperately to put behind you last summer.

Well, WCBias remembers Tim Donaghy betting on games the previous two seasons. We also remember Crawford ejecting a superstar for, get this, laughing on the bench (here’s video proof). Heck, you should be rewarding Duncan – the most stoic player on the planet – whenever the dude finally shows some emotion, not penalizing him.

After being run from the game last year, Duncan said Crawford “looked at me and said, ‘Do you want to fight?’ Do you want to fight?’ 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.”

Yikes. Is the NBA so hard up for officiating that you need to bring Crawford back into a neck-in-neck conference title race where an official’s call could be the difference in a series?

To be fair, I thought Crawford remained objective for the most part in Tuesday’s Game 5, but you could tell he wanted nothing to do with Duncan and refused to acknowledge him whenever the Spurs forward questioned a play.

If anything, it looked like Crawford and Co. were on the Spurs’ side in this one, maybe trying to make up with Pop and the boys for what Stern called “improper conduct” and “inappropriate comments made to Duncan during the game.”

In fact, there were at least three questionable calls late in the fourth when Shaq, Diaw and Stoudemire picked up their fifth personals on bogus “tripping” fouls. Crawford slapped O’Neal with his fifth when Duncan tripped over his own leg with six minutes to go.

Maybe Timmy and Joey worked out their differences and are on the same page again. Maybe the two still hate each other. The average fan and the hoops hacks courtside obviously don’t know, so why set yourself up for another potential referee scandal when you could’ve easily kept Crawford home during the playoffs or banished him to cover the garbage teams in the East?

Regards,
WCBias