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Duncan might have his wake-up call

Feud with referee could spark star, Spurs against tough Suns, Mavs

Duncan yells at DuncanAP
Spurs forward Tim Duncan, back left, has words for referee Jerry Crawford, right, after Crawford ejected him Sunday night.

Michael Ventre
In a pre-fight “Tale of the Tape,” Tim Duncan has a decided edge over Joey Crawford.

Duncan is about to turn 31; Crawford is 55.

Duncan is 7-0, Crawford stands roughly about 5-8.

Duncan’s reach is undetermined, but suffice to say he has a giant wing span that would allow him to stick and move freely, whereas Crawford has stubby little arms that might occasionally graze Duncan’s kneecaps as Duncan keeps him at bay with one arm extended and its hand pressed on top of Crawford’s dome.

Of course, all bets are off if the bout involves ultimate fighting rather than traditional boxing. There’s really no telling what Crawford might do to Duncan. Given Crawford’s ornery nature, Duncan’s only hope would be to try to get the IRS to go after him again.

This topic comes up, of course, because in an unusual sequence of events, the Spurs’ superstar big man and the NBA’s most pugnacious bulldog have called each other out. Soon their respective posses will be exchanging insults about each others’ mamas,  pretty girls will choose sides and an impartial observer will be assigned to oversee the combatants’ bling.

But perhaps what is says more than anything is that Tim Duncan has some fighting spirit, which isn’t always apparent. And it may have surfaced at the perfect time, when pundits are conceding the West title to Dallas, and if not Dallas, then Phoenix.

Now, he may not get a chance to beat up Joey Crawford, but he could take out his aggression on the teams in the Spurs’ path to the championship.

The tiff between Duncan and Crawford happened Sunday afternoon in Dallas. Crawford assessed two technical fouls to Duncan only 1 minute and 16 seconds apart. Before the second, Duncan was laughing on the bench. Duncan alleges that Crawford saw him laughing and said repeatedly, “Do you want to fight?”

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Duncan also claims he said nothing to Crawford except the words, “I got fouled.” Crawford disagrees, alleging that Duncan was “complaining the whole game.”

The issue between these two men won’t be settled in the parking lot. Parking lots at NBA games these days are crammed to capacity, so there’s no room for a good donnybrook between two bare-knuckled amateur pugilists. Plus they’d have to pay the valets to move some cars out of the way, there would be insurance concerns, fights would break out among media over pay-per-view rights, advertisers would want a piece of it. The world is a much more complicated place.

Of course, one area where a good old rock ‘em, sock ‘em row is not only condoned but encouraged is on the hardwood, where the stage is prepared for Duncan and the Spurs to prove that they’re not obsolete and not irrelevant despite the noise that the Mavericks and Suns are making.


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