LeBron lauds retiring ref Joey Crawford for 'great career'
LeBron James has had his disagreements with Joey Crawford - as most players and coaches have during the famously animated, short-tempered NBA referee's 39-year career - but James can't help but admire Crawford's consistency.
"I've had him when I was a youngster, I've had him at Finals games, I've had him in regular-season games and he's never wavered," James said of Crawford - who will retire at season's end - according to Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com. "He's been the same guy in a preseason game all the way to a Finals game, man, and obviously we all know what comes with that. But he's always been a great ref, someone that you can talk to. Much respect to him."
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) June 12, 2015
James even coined a term for Crawford's unique on-court antics, like this, or this.
"The Joey-isms," James said. "He has his way of calling certain calls. Traveling or blocks or things of that nature, man, he has his ways but it's all good."
Crawford's excitability has occasionally gotten him into trouble, most famously when he ejected Tim Duncan from a game with playoff implications for laughing while on the bench - an impulsive decision that got Crawford suspended by the league and led him to seek anger-management counseling.
Some of those edges have been sanded down, but the hair trigger hasn't quite disappeared. During last season's NBA Finals, Crawford had to apologize after telling James' teammate, Timofey Mozgov, to "shut up."
That hasn't done anything to dampen James' respect for one of the longest-tenured officials in league history. Asked to pick a favorite Crawford moment, he paid the 64-year-old one of the highest compliments possible.
"That's like saying, 'Do you have one Kobe Bryant moment?'" James said. "Joey Crawford has definitely been a staple in our league and I think he's definitely left a mark. He's been a great ref for so many years and I think most importantly, he's done it his way.
" ... Hopefully we see him again before this season is over so I can congratulate him on such a great career. He's earned it."