NBA Insider with Ken Berger

Now that we’re into the teeth of the first-round series, here are my thoughts on what’s happened and what’s going to happen:

Eastern Conference

Detroit (1) vs. Orlando (8): Pistons lead, 2-0; Game 3 Thursday night at Orlando.
The Pistons are a balanced, unselfish, skilled basketball team with no superstars. Does anybody care? Oh, and another memo to Jameer Nelson, who said before the series, “I know we can beat them. We’ve just got to figure them out.” They couldn’t figure out the Pistons on the road, and I don’t see any reason to expect any different at home.

Cleveland (2) vs. Washington (7): Cavs lead, 1-0; Game 2 Wednesday night at Cleveland.
Never has a turned ankle gotten so much attention. Gee, I wonder if the heroic LeBron James can lead the Cavs out of the first round against what is essentially a D-League team without Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler?

Toronto (5) vs. Nets (6): Nets lead, 1-0; Game 2 Tuesday night at Toronto.
I still think the Nets face a tough road. But if they sweep at Toronto, the Raptors are done.

Miami (4) vs. Chicago (5): Bulls lead, 1-0; Game 2 Tuesday night at Chicago.
Tempers are simmering in this series already, and could boil over in Game 2. If Shaq gets into foul trouble again, this could become a slugfest and easily has the potential to become the ugliest series.

Western Conference

Dallas (1) vs. Golden State (8): Dallas leads, 1-0; Game 2 Wednesday night at Dallas.
Not surprised the Warriors stole one on the road; they’ve had the Mavs’ number. But would be shocked if the Mavs lost tonight, and if they lost the series.

Phoenix (2) vs. Lakers (7): Suns leads, 1-0; Game 2 Tuesday night at Phoenix.
Kobe will make the Suns sweat before it’s over, but Phoenix is too good.

San Antonio (3) vs. Denver (6): Nuggets lead, 1-0; Game 2 Wednesday night at San Antonio.
A.I. made an early statement that he can be the best player on the floor for stretches in this series. But I still like the Spurs to grind it out.

Utah (4) vs. Houston (5): Rockets lead, 2-0; Game 3 Thursday night at Utah
T-Mac and the Rockets took care of business at home. They’ll split at Utah and come home with a chance to close out the Jazz in Game 5 at home next Monday night.

Six years on the Jets beat and I was never asked to vote for anything other than appetizers, pizza toppings, and the Dunkin Munchkin assortment. In my first year back on the NBA beat, the league invited me to vote on every postseason award. Herewith, my selections, which no doubt will open me up to abuse from readers. Your comments are certainly welcome.

Votes were due by 3 p.m. today, and I wanted to be diligent about my procrastination and wait until the regular season was over before submitting my votes. Voters were asked to list a top 5 for MVP, top 3 for the rest, and three five-man All-NBA teams. Here we go:

MVP
1. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas
2. Steve Nash, Phoenix
3. Tim Duncan, San Antonio
4. Kobe Bryant, Lakers
5. Tracy McGrady, Houston

Dirk was a no-brainer. Best player on the best team.

Rookie of the Year
1. Brandon Roy, Portland
2. Andrea Bargnani, Toronto
3. Rudy Gay, Memphis

Roy will be the runaway winner.

Coach of the Year
1. Avery Johnson, Dallas
2. Sam Mitchell, Toronto
3. Jerry Sloan, Utah

Got to see the Mavs in New York, New Jersey, and Philly and was blown away by Johnson's meticulous approach and insistence on excellence.

Defensive Player of the Year
1. Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana
2. Bruce Bowen, San Antonio
3. Shane Battier, Houston

I'm not buying the groundswell for Marcus Camby at all. O'Neal had the best year.

Sixth Man
1. Leandro Barbosa, Phoenix
2. Jerry Stackhouse, Dallas
3. Manu Ginobili, San Antonio

I stayed away from statistical impact and voted for Barbosa based on the spark he provides off the bench. David Lee got bumped by Ginobili based on his injury.

Most Improved
1. Monta Ellis, Golden State
2. Jose Calderon, Toronto
3. Kevin Martin, Sacramento

An excellent case could be made for Calderon or Martin, but I voted for Ellis first because of his contributions to a team that battled to the final day of the regular season to make the playoffs.

All-NBA

First Team
F Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas
F Tracy McGrady, Houston
C Tim Duncan, San Antonio
G Steve Nash, Phoenix
G Kobe Bryant, Lakers

Second Team
F Chris Bosh, Toronto
F LeBron James, Cleveland
C Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix
G Dwyane Wade, Miami
G Gilbert Arenas, Washington

Third Team
F Kevin Garnett, MInnesota
F Carlos Boozer, Utah
C Yao Ming, Houston
G Ray Allen, Seattle
G Jason Kidd, New Jersey

Shaq is still the best center in the game, but the games he missed due to injury knocked him off my list. Kidd is still playing brilliantly, although I had some reservations about him due to his team's mediocre record.

David Stern certainly has better counsel than me available to him, not to mention better evidence than I provided in my recommendation in the previous post that referee Joe Crawford should be suspended.

Whatever prompted him to do it, Stern did the right thing in suspending the renegade ref indefinitely -- at least through this year's NBA Finals -- due to his ejection of the Spurs' Tim Duncan for laughing on the bench Sunday in a game against Dallas. Here is the AP story, posted on ESPN.com.

Stern said the following in a statement released this afternoon by the NBA:

"Joey Crawford's handling of this situation failed to meet the standards of professionalism and game management we expect of NBA referees. Especially in light of similar prior acts by this official, a significant suspension is warranted. Although Joey is consistently rated as one of our top referees, he must be held accountable for his actions on the floor, and we will have further discussions with him following the season to be sure he understands his responsibilities."

Crawford's suspension is unprecedented in NBA history, so I am still awaiting comment from the NBA Referees Association, which collectively bargains on behalf of the game officials. Fallout from the rank-and-file refs will be interesting to monitor as the regular season wraps up tonight and tomorrow night. In response to referee Michael Henderson's then-unprecedented three-game suspension in 2004 for an inadvertent whistle that cost Denver a victory against the Lakers, all officials wore their jerseys inside-out with Henderson's No. 62 on their backs.

The league did not make Stern, vice president of operations Stu Jackson, or director of officials Ronnie Nunn available to comment on the suspension, letting Stern's statement stand alone. But Stern did comment on the issue during a previously scheduled online chat at ESPN.com.

"We are not getting any satisfaction out of this," Stern said. "Crawford is always one of our highest rated officials. We just did what we had to do."

Since Crawford was the crew chief in the game Sunday, his comments to Duncan were recorded by a microphone he wore while officiating the game. The NBA declined to make public what it learned from listening to the recording, but Duncan claimed Crawford challenged him to a fight.

Duncan hasn't been punished yet, but NBA spokesman Tim Frank said the league is still reviewing his situation. A fine for the two-time MVP is anticipated.

UPDATE: As expected, Duncan was hit with a $25,000 fine for what Stern called "inappropriate" comments to Crawford.

There is no way around it: David Stern’s iron-fisted approach to discipline on the court is going to have to include Joey Crawford.

I’ve seen Crawford, the notoriously hotheaded ref, do some strange things. He doled out four technical fouls in the first 10 minutes of Game 2 in the 2003 Western Conference Finals, for one. Crawford also did something I’d never seen at an NBA game when he ejected a fan from Continental Airlines Arena during a Nets-Mavericks game on Dec. 5.

But more on those instances later. Crawford’s latest transgression, ejecting two-time league MVP Tim Duncan for laughing on the bench during the Spurs’ game against Dallas on Sunday, takes the cake for absurdity.

Duncan was relegated to the bench late in the third quarter Sunday after getting technical No. 1 from Crawford for arguing a call. Barely a minute later, Duncan burst out in laughter, stomped his feet, clapped his hands, and wiped his face with a towel when Crawford called teammate Fabricio Oberto for a shooting foul on Josh Howard with 1:04 left in the third.

Crawford pointed to Duncan on the bench, teed him up, and signaled for him to leave the floor with the automatic ejection that comes with a second technical. Teammates Tony Parker and Robert Horry looked at Crawford with open-mouthed astonishment.

Here is where it gets interesting: Duncan claimed afterward that Crawford has a “personal vendetta” against him, and said Crawford barked at him after the ejection, “Do you want to fight?” While Duncan claims he said nothing to Crawford other than, “I got fouled on that shot,” which earned him the first technical, Crawford claimed Duncan called him an expletive as he walked off the court.

Here’s reaction from Duncan and Crawford in the AP account of the game, including a video clip. More video here.

The league was still reviewing the matter today, and should have no trouble doing so. I'm told that Crawford was wearing a microphone during the game, won by Dallas, 91-86.

UPDATE: Ronnie Nunn, the NBA's director of officials, was at the Nets-Knicks game at the Garden last night. So I asked him his take on the Crawford situation. Nunn said it was too early to comment, but that the punishments could come down today. He said Crawford was the crew chief in Sunday's game and, as such, was wired with a microphone.

The San Antonio Express-News reported today that, while league officials interviewed Duncan about the matter, Stern appears to be focused on Crawford's actions.

Although it was only the second ejection of Duncan’s nine-year career, he’s known as a subtle whiner who gets under the skin of officials and opponents without drawing too much attention to himself. In this case, he was certainly drawing attention to himself on the bench, and showing up Crawford.

For that reason, I expect Stern and the NBA’s vice president of basketball operations, Stu Jackson, to hit Duncan with a fine. But with the playoffs only a few days away – and the outcome of playoff games at least to some extent in the hands of the officials – Stern must come down hard on Crawford, too.

Clearly, this is a commissioner who is not afraid to make an example out of a star player, as he did by suspending Carmelo Anthony for 15 games for his role in the December brawl between the Knicks and Nuggets at the Garden. Although the circumstances are far different – nobody got hurt – Stern must apply the same standard to Crawford, who obviously thinks he has become a star official.

Rule No. 1 for officials in any sport is not to be noticed. Crawford, a 31-year NBA veteran who according to ESPN.com’s Chris Sheridan has officiated 38 NBA Finals games among his 2,000-plus career total, has put himself in the spotlight one too many times.

According to Sheridan, the patron saint of NBA controversies, Crawford was chewed out by Stern after he made himself the story with the flurry of technicals in the Western Conference Finals game mentioned earlier. Crawford apparently was told that if he made himself the story again, the punishment would be severe.

I was at the Nets-Mavericks game on Dec. 5 when Crawford ejected a 20-year season ticker-holder who was sitting in the second row behind the basket. On his way out of the building, the fan told me he’d been griping at Crawford to make a three-second call. Crawford told him if he said it one more time, he’d be ejected. The fan responded, “Three seconds!” and Crawford motioned for security to eject him.

The security guards paused for a moment and looked at Crawford with puzzled expressions, clearly wondering, “Are we allowed to do this?”

Crawford also officiated Game 5 of last year’s NBA Finals, when Dallas owner Mark Cuban believed Dwyane Wade should have been called for a backcourt violation prior to hitting the game-winning free throws in a 101-100 overtime victory. Cuban was fined $250,000 for “several acts of misconduct.”

Today, Cuban wrote on his blog that he’s not commenting on Crawford’s current situation. In fact, talking about officials is so off-limits in the NBA that Knicks coach Isiah Thomas stopped me in my tracks when I asked him about Crawford tonight before the Knicks played the Nets.

“Are you kidding me?” Thomas said. “No, I’m serious. I would never answer that question.”

“No, but …” I said.

“No but, my ass,” Thomas said. “I’m not going there.”

I’ll comment for him: If Stern wants to make a statement that his playoffs, and ultimately his Finals, will not be affected by the short temper of an official, then he should hand out a suspension for Crawford tomorrow to go along with Duncan’s fine.

It would not only be fair, but well deserved – and a long time coming.

I love Micheal Ray Richardson’s quote this week to Harvey Araton of the Times, when asked how he’s doing.

“I’ll tell you what,” Micheal Ray said, “I’m not sinkin’.”

Araton embraced some of the points I made in my Micheal Ray column last week, and furthered the analysis in a thoughtful column in which he compared Richardson’s comments to those that resulted in Don Imus’ firing. (If you don't have TimesSelect, you can read the key points on Henry Abbott's TrueHoop blog.)

Araton wrote of Richardson:

He wasn't trying to be funny, wasn't prostituting his values for the sake of ratings and profit, when he cursed out a courtside fan during the first game of the series in Albany. But he embellished the attack with an anti-gay slur, and this after giving a pregame discourse to two reporters from The Albany Times-Union that was interpreted by some, not all, probably not even most, to be anti-Semitic.
Even if it was, in the case of the fan, an angry slip of the tongue, and even if it was just awkward phrasing in the discussion with reporters that ensued after his quip about being represented by ''big-time Jew lawyers,'' Richardson is out of work now, begging not to be written off and remembered as a bigot.
''I'm 52 years old and all I want is some peace,'' he said. ''I never judge anyone, not after all the things that have happened to me.''

Here’s what I hope: That the fallout from Richardson’s comments doesn’t get completely forgotten now that the media machine is chomping away at the Imus story, which shows no sign of losing its ability to satisfy the appetites of anyone and everyone who wants to weigh in.

The debate over whether Imus deserved what he got isn’t going to get Richardson another chance to coach or otherwise find employment in basketball. It would appear that Richardson couldn’t have picked a worse time to say something stupid and lose his job.

Whereas Imus’ friends and corporate supporters abandoned him, I hope Richardson’s supporters – starting with NBA commissioner David Stern – don’t forget about him.

And another thing …

On a completely unrelated topic, how Gilbert Arenas is handling his season-ending knee injury is drawing some criticism in the blogosphere. As usual, TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott is all over it at ESPN.com.

Henry links to Gilbert’s blog in which Agent Zero admits that he can barely bring himself to watch the Wizards play on TV. He also points out that Dan Steinberg of D.C. Sports Bog, an ardent Arenas supporter, thinks Arenas’ take smacks of selfishness.

This is just me, but I think the least Arenas could do is cheer on his teammates from the bench, as fellow injured All-Star Caron Butler is doing.

And lastly …

I’ll be filling out my ballots next week for MVP, rookie of the year, All-NBA team, coach of the year, most improved, defensive player of the year, and sixth man of the year. As always, your suggestions are welcome. Anyone who can match my five-man, all-NBA team identically gets a free Big Mac.

LeBron James has received his share of criticism for, shall we say, a cavalier attitude he adopts for certain stretches of the regular season. Now, James has rankled Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo with his recent comment that he’s “50-50” on joining his teammates for this summer’s Olympic qualifying tournament in Las Vegas.

Responding to James’ lukewarm assessment of the chances he’ll participate in the Tournament of the Americas, Colangelo told ESPN.com this week that he could jeopardize his spot on the Olympic team.

“Unless people have a legitimate reason for not participating, I expect them to uphold their three-year commitment,” Colangelo said. “I’m standing by my commitment and I expect people to stand by theirs. If someone chooses not to participate just because they’d rather not play, that person would put himself at risk as far as who ultimately represents us at the Olympics.”

By virtue of its third-place finish in last summer’s World Championships, Team USA’s spot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics is not assured. The U.S. must qualify for the Games beginning with the Las Vegas tournament Aug. 22-Sept. 2 – a development that has James and other players who competed in Japan last summer waffling on their commitments.

“Right now I’m kind of 50-50,” James said last month before a game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. “I’ve got a family. My girlfriend right now, we’re expecting another one in June. Health is always an issue. So you’ve got to re-evaluate things, go through the season go through the playoffs and look at it afterwards.”

If James loses his spot or opts out of Beijing, he could lose as much as $500,000 in endorsement bonuses, principally from Nike.

XXX

Kevin Garnett’s future could be determined this summer when the Timberwolves field trade offers for the superstar who can opt out of his contract after the 2007-08 season. Garnett would look great in a Knicks uniform, and would give Isiah Thomas a legitimate scorer and all-around star to complement Eddy Curry.

The Knicks have the pieces to put together a decent offer for Garnett, at least in terms of bodies and salaries; Jamal Crawford, Channing Frye, Jared Jeffries, and Malik Rose, for example, would do the trick.

The only problem is, the Timberwolves need draft picks for Garnett because they owe one to the Clippers from the Sam Cassell trade and another to the Celtics from the Wally Szczerbiak deal. It is looking more and more like the Knicks’ first-round pick going to the Bulls will be a lottery pick, so they won’t have enough picks to lure Garnett.

XXX

The best thing about the Knicks’ slump is that Nate Robinson is getting playing time and doing some things that show up on highlight shows, which appears to be his ultimate goal. Maybe he is doing enough to entice another GM to give up a decent player or draft pick for him this summer. Robinson has talent to fall in love with, but I can’t see him lasting here under Isiah Thomas.

XXX

Two weeks ago, the Wizards were looking like one of the most interesting playoff teams in the East. Depending on seeding, they might’ve been involved in the most intriguing first-round series if they’d matched up with Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade and the defending champion Heat. Then, in the span of four days, they became a team with no chance to get out of the first round.

Caron Butler is out until at least the conference semifinals with a broken bone in his right hand. Gilbert Arenas, who would’ve gotten at least a few MVP votes, went down with a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. Arenas underwent arthroscopic surgery on Thursday and is out 2-3 months. The playoffs just won’t be the same without Agent Zero, who was healthy enough to blog about his surgical experience. I love this line from Gil about being put under with anesthesia: "The best sleep I got in … wooooo … a long time."