NBA Insider with Ken Berger

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.