Mavs Face Uphill Battle Tonight

I picked the Mavs to win their current series with the Spurs in 6 games and I'll stand by that. But tonight may not be their night for one simple reason: head official Dan Crawford. Crawford is the most inconsistent member of the NBA's legion of officials. He doesn't bring an ego to the floor like many of the worst refs in the league (like Game 2 official Ken Mauer). And he isn't too old to keep up with the changes of the game (like fellow Game 3 ref Dick Bavetta). By all accounts he's a heck of a nice guy. He's just not good at his job. Watching a Crawford officiated game can be torture because you never know what you're getting with him. For a while he will call EVERYTHING, to the point that there's a call on every play, and then suddenly he'll swallow his whistle and no calls will be made.

The one thing he does do consistently, however, is kill the Mavericks. A couple of stats:

- Dallas is 1-15 in playoff games officiated by Dan Crawford. Ouch.

- By comparison, during the Dirk Era in games not officiated by Crawford, the Mavs are 53-35. That's a .602 winning percentage without Crawford on the court, .062 when he's present.

- The last Mavs playoff game officiated by Crawford was Game 1 of the Denver series last year when Denver shot 36 free throws compared to Dallas' 13.

- Most painful, Crawford refed Games 3 and 6 during the Mavs 2006 Finals series with Miami. In those games, Dwyane Wade attempted 39 total free throws.

I'm not saying Crawford has something against the Mavs but those are some telling stats as to what to expect tonight. The Mavs are going to have to be at their absolute best tonight if they want to come home with a win.