Wow…watching Tim Duncan get ejected in the 2nd half last night’s 91-86 Dallas win over San Antonio was unreal…however, the real juice was the comments post-game (which I stole from Marc Stein of ESPN.com’s insider blog) from both Duncan and Crawford:

Duncan on the ejection: "Was I surprised? I was sitting on the bench laughing about a call and he throws me out of the game? Yeah, I was surprised, of course."

Duncan on Crawford: "Joey knew exactly what he was doing. He came into this game with a personal vendetta against me -- it had to be -- because I didn't do anything the entire game. As I said, I said three words to him and the three words were that I got fouled on a shot. There was one shot I took against Dirk. I pump-faked and got hit on the arm and I said, 'Joey, I got hit on the play.' I probably said it again when I came back down the floor and that's all I said to him the entire game."

Duncan on his history with Crawford: "The last game we played against Indiana, I got a tech from him there also. So I kind of imagine it stems from that or whatever. I don't know what his deal is. . . . You'd have to ask him that question, because obviously he's got a problem with me. I don't have a problem with Joey. He's got a problem with me, so that's a question for him."

Duncan on playing in future playoff games reffed by Crawford: "You've got to be aware of it, but I don't know what else they want me to do. If he wants camera time, then he's going to call the techs and he's going to get the camera time he wants. So I don't know what his deal is."

Duncan on fighting: "Joey Crawford came to me and said, 'Hey, do you want to fight?' ... Before he gave me the two technical fouls, he made a call and I was shaking my head, and he walks down and stares at me. He says: 'Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?' I didn't say anything to him then, either. ... I [know] no reason why in the middle of a game he would yell at me, 'Do you want to fight?'"

Crawford's comments were issued before Duncan's postgame interview. NBA rules generally forbid referees from speaking to the media after games, but there are provisions -- in controversial cases like this one -- to send a pool reporter into the referees' quarters to get an explanation, in most instances on a rules interpretation.

Crawford on the ejection: "He was complaining the whole time. And then he went over to the bench and he was over there doing the same stuff behind our back. I hit him with one [technical] and he kept going over there, laughing, and I look over there and he's still complaining. So I threw him out."

Crawford on giving technicals to someone sitting on the bench: "He's complaining. He was constantly complaining. He was complaining when he was on the court. Then he got on the bench and kept doing the same stuff. So I just ejected him."

Crawford on Duncan's contention that he said nothing to warrant two technicals: "That's his opinion. He said nothing when he was walking off the court and he called me a piece of [blank]? Is that nothing?"