page_title: Joey Crawford
section_title: Tim Duncan incident
hierarchical_section_title: Joey Crawford / NBA referee career / Tim Duncan incident
caption_attribution_description: English: Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs, during the Spurs-Nuggets match on 12-22-2010 in San Antonio, TX.
context_page_description: Joseph Crawford is an American retired professional basketball referee who worked in the National Basketball Association between 1977 and 2016. Crawford, who wore uniform number 17, was regarded as one of the strictest and most controversial officials in the NBA and developed a reputation for assessing technical fouls against both players and coaches. As of the conclusion of the 2014–15 NBA season, Crawford had worked more playoff and NBA Finals games than any other active referee in the league. He officiated in every NBA Finals series from 1986 to 2015, only missing 2007 due to suspension. In addition to playoff games, Crawford officiated the NBA All-Star Game in 1986, 1992 and 2000.
context_section_description: On April 15, 2007, Crawford ejected San Antonio Spurs player Tim Duncan during a game against the Dallas Mavericks. Duncan had been sitting on the bench when Crawford assessed two technical fouls. Crawford said that Duncan had been laughing at him and insulted him with an expletive, while Duncan said that Crawford asked him if he wanted to fight. On April 17, Crawford was suspended for the remainder of the 2006–07 season and the 2007 playoffs, ending his streak of officiating 21 consecutive NBA Finals. The league also fined Duncan $25,000 for verbal abuse of an official and warned that a repeat incident in the future would result in an ejection. Commissioner David Stern said Crawford's actions "failed to meet the standards of professionalism and game management we expect of NBA referees." 
  Crawford met with league officials on July 30. On September 17, the NBA announced Crawford's reinstatement. Commissioner Stern said, "Based on my meeting with Joey Crawford, his commitment to an ongoing counseling program and a favorable professional evaluation that was performed at my direction, I am satisfied that Joey understands the standards of game management and professionalism the NBA expects from him and that he will be able to conduct himself in accordance with those standards."
  In a 2012 interview, Crawford named the Duncan incident as one of his two regrets from his career, saying "The Duncan thing probably changed my life. It was just—you come to the realization that maybe the way you've been doing things is not the proper way and you have to regroup, not only on the court but off the court. I had seen a sports psychologist before that. But after, I saw him a lot more. [...] It gave me a new perspective."
caption: Tim Duncan was ejected from a 2007 game after Crawford gave him two technical fouls, both while on the bench.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-H3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image DateTime": "2009:03:10 11:37:49", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2252", "Image XPTitle": "[0, 0]", "Image XPSubject": "[32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, ... ]", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Image OffsetSchema": "4188", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "22/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Action", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:03:10 11:37:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:03:10 11:37:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "1908"}