NBA

they probably clinched the division before home-court advantage...

Beats me.

Looking at the standings, though, I'm thinking that Cleveland must be pissed off that the conference playoff seedings aren't based purely on record. It's not their fault they're in the only decent division in the eastern conference.

Did you guys hear what Tim Duncan said about Joey Crawford after yesterday's game?

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Duncan: Referee has 'personal vendetta' against him
Posted: Monday April 16, 2007 6:04PM; Updated: Monday April 16, 2007 6:23PM

DALLAS (AP) -- Losing a tense, physical, emotional game to their top rival and being forced to settle for the third seed in the Western Conference was bad enough for Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

Even worse: Duncan is convinced official Joey Crawford is out to get him, with a brawl possibly needed to settle things.

Crawford hit Duncan with two technical fouls just 1:16 apart late in the third quarter of San Antonio's 91-86 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. The second came while he was laughing on the bench and meant an automatic ejection, just the second of his nine-year career.

"He looked at me and said, 'Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?"' Duncan said. "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. I have no reason why in the middle of a game he would yell at me, 'Do you want to fight?"'

full article

Yeah, thanks for the story/article kicky I was curious about that. I wanted to see what that whole feud was about and the highlights of their game only showed jists of it and talked about it briefly and nothing more.

Yeah you probably right cause it's weird I heard during the year all along all they had to do was win their division to clinch home advantage. Apparently I guess that's not the case. Now I realize with Houston's win tonight they clinched home advantage against the Utah Jazz even though Houston is 5th and Jazz is 4th winning their own division so they must've changed the rules. Wow, stinks for the Raps cause they the only decent team in our division.

I gotta give big ups to David Stern for giving Joey Crawford the boot for good this year showing that refs are wrong once in awhile and not always right. Joey Crawford probably kicked Duncan out b/c that's the only way he can get back at Duncan for a battle he's lost with Duncan. You see Duncan laughing on the bench is a sign he's all smiles and having fun b/c of such a dumb and incompetent ref.

he let duncan get under his skin, something you wouldn't expect from a ref with 31 years experience...

Yeah, no kiddin that's for sure.

Funny how the games finish up tonight where there are 4 teams Nets, Magic, Wiz and my Raptors. Where all 3 lower seeds teams won (not 100% sure about Wiz since nba.com is takin a century to update) and the Raps close out with a loss at home (with nothing more to play for except for a franchise record of 48).

Anyways down to the point it surprised me that the Nets beat Bulls tonight to clinch 6th spot and former Raptor Vince Carter and his Nets are coming to T.O. for a playoff showdown to prove who's better once and for all. Anyways, I don't want to say too much b/c Chuck Swirsky (our commentator) said, "Becareful what you wish for..." b/c of all this playoff hype where everything is diff. than reg. season. I don't believe that for a sec. however they are not to be taken lightly and I still believe the Raptors are gonna pull it off.

Duncan, Bowen, Ginobli, Parker et al have this squeaky-clean image that America (especially Texas) just laps up. But they can be just as cutthroat and dirty and sarcastic and sneaky as anyone - and they usually get away with it. Tim Duncan is a big punk. I bet we get more of what he actually said to Joey as time goes on...

Snood, how did you come by that impression of them?

i agree, except for bowen, who is one of the dirtiest players in the league...

True about Bowen.

The Spurs have been like this for years. Anyone else remember the shaving commercial with David Robinson and Duncan? It was like an ad for the boyscouts.

I still can't get over the profile of Parker and Eva Longoria in SI, I hope Tony caught some flack for that one.

Well, when you hang your franchise's hat on David Robinson, that's going to -- well, whatever the opposite of "tarnish your image" is.

So the first Raptors vs. Nets game is on ESPN. Hopefully they'll post up what Canadian stations the game are gonna be aired on soon.

Ah, yes it's that time of the year again. The playoffs are under way today and now we are all anxiously awaiting for the first game. GO Raptors GO!!!

Friggin playoff jitters is what lost my Raptors game that's all right they can bounce back. Denver and GSW surprise me though beating the top two teams at their home turf. Well not so much Denver since AI and Melo learned to click they have potential to knock off the Spurs. As for the Warriors sadly I believe it was a flukey victory. I hope they can continue their winning ways against Dallas and knock them out. We'll just have to wait and see.

Wow this year's playoffs the series with the Warriors and Mavs is somethin to watch. The Warriors went up 3-1 against the Mavs few nights ago and had a chance to knock them out last night. They were up by 9 only to lose by 6 from a 15-0 run. Well in the end no matter how it plays out it's still going to be exciting b/c Mavs will need a Game 7 to clinch the series and nobody expected this from a number 8 team. The Warriors have a chance to clinch it at home and if they don't then Mavs will win for sure. I believe the Warriors will, either way in the end this is going to be an exciting series to remember.

Yeah, that game last night was incredible. Mavs blow a twenty-point lead, then just when you think they're sunk, the Warriors blow a nine-point lead with less than three minutes to go. I was calling Dirk Nowitski "the invisible man." He woke up at the last possible moment to bring them back though. What a great series this is.

I grew up watching the Warriors in the Nellie Run TMC days (them and the dismal Kings). Love it. It's like the Warriors-Jazz series back then -- wild, scrappy, and unpredictable.