Yesterdays' Dallas vs. San Antonio match certainly got bizarre, didn't it? Seems like you have to decide: either Tim Duncan is a really nice guy and referee Joey Crawford has an insane infatuation with him, or he's a whiny jerk and Joey Crawford is the only one who has figured that out.

This is just some of the bizarreness from the Associated Press writeup of the game (must see in the accompanying video highlights: the looks on the faces of Duncan's teammates on the bench as Duncan gets his second technical):

"He looked at me and said, 'Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?"' Duncan said. "If he wants to fight, we can fight. I don't have any problem with him, but we can do it if he wants to. I have no reason why in the middle of a game he would yell at me, 'Do you want to fight?"'

The Spurs sorely missed their top player down the stretch, failing to score a basket over the last 6:32 while allowing a 9-0 run to end the game. The loss ended their hopes of catching Phoenix for the No. 2 seed and home-court advantage if they meet in the second round.

While this was a thrilling game between Western Conference powers, the story of the day turned out to be Duncan vs. Crawford.

"He came into the game with a personal vendetta against me," said Duncan, who had 16 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks in his limited action. "It had to be because I didn't do anything the entire game. I said three words to him and the three words were, 'I got fouled' on a shot. ... That's all I said to him the entire game."

People in San Antonio are not happy. Spurs' blogger Matthew Powell's take on the matter is decidedly not family-friendly in choosing his words for Crawford.

UPDATE: More video.

UPDATE: Basketbawful comes down hard-core in favor of Duncan here, but also adds:

To be sure, Duncan isn't faultless in this. He's playing the aggrieved party and claims (probably correctly) that he didn't say anything more than "I got fouled" to Crawford during the game. But then, backtalk never has been Duncan's modus operandi. He's a non-verbal complainer who uses well-timed eye-goggles and mildly disbelieving looks that, in and of themselves, speak volumes.

UPDATE: And The Painted Area:

I've seen some talk that perhaps Crawford will be suspended. I don't think that is the proper course of action. I think the guy should just be judged unfit to officiate the NBA Finals on merit because he can't control his ego and pulls stunts like today's far too often.

UPDATE (LOTS OF UPDATES!): Mark Cuban is on the case:

What I do want to say to all NBA fans is that if you are not a Mavs fan STOP EMAILING ME ABOUT THE OFFICIATING.

Email the owner of your own team. Email the commissioner of the NBA, email anybody else. Do not email me.

Everytime something questionable happens in an NBA game, my inbox gets slammed with "If you really care about the officiating you would say something", or "this is why I cant watch the NBA anymore" emails or "I'm a season ticket holder for X years and Im considering cancelling because...". Im tired of getting and reading emails that by now easily number more than 25k over the years that the management of the team you root for, or the NBA won't take.

If you were to send all those emails to your owner or GM, maybe they would be concerned with things other than where I stand on the court .

UPDATE: Getting much more serious now. Here's ESPN's Chris Sheridan (Insider):

That little birdie I spoke of before told me that Crawford was summoned to the league office in New York by Commissioner David Stern nearly four years ago following his antics in Game 2 of the 2003 Western Conference finals.

Crawford had called four technical fouls in the first 10 minutes, 11 seconds and ejected Mavs coaches Don Nelson and Del Harris. Here's the way I reported that story way back then when I was the pool reporter who interviewed Crawford in the officials' locker room after the game.

Stern, from what I was told, was livid that Crawford had become the story of Game 2, and Crawford was told that if it ever happened again, the consequences would be serious.

Well, it sure looks like Crawford is the story again, and I'm eager to see how Stern and NBA vice president Stu Jackson handle this.

And ESPN's Marc Stein (Insider) says he expects Duncan and Crawford to both see punishment:

I'm guessing that this whole episode, sadly, will crank up the conspiracy-theory talk before we even get to the playoffs, which didn't seem possible. But how can something like this not turn fans off? Refs having it in for certain players or teams . . . Tim Duncan isn't exactly known for publicly registering that kind of complaint.

How can it not come up before, during and after the next Spurs game Crawford officiates? How will David Stern react to some pretty strong claims from one of his finest citizens? Pretty interesting stuff, with Duncan at the center of it all.