Dan Crawford is a professional basketball referee

Official (basketball)

In basketball, an official is a person who has the responsibility to enforce the rules and maintain the order of the game. The title of official also applies to the scorers and timekeepers, as well as other personnel that have an active task in maintaining the game...

 in the National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 (NBA) since the 1984–85 NBA season. Beginning with the 2006-07 NBA season

2006-07 NBA season

The 2006–07 NBA season was the 61st season of the National Basketball Association. The regular season began on October 31, 2006 and ran through April 18, 2007. The league fielded 30 teams, each playing an 82 game regular season schedule. The top eight seeds from each conference reached the NBA...

, Crawford has officiated in 1,425 regular season, 191 playoff, and 18 NBA Finals

NBA Finals

The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association . The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....

 games. He was also assigned to the 1994 and 2001 NBA All-Star Games. He wears the uniform number 43.

A 1976 graduate of Northeastern Illinois University

Northeastern Illinois University

Northeastern Illinois University is a public state university located in Chicago, Illinois. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park with three additional campuses in the metropolitan area. Tracing its founding to 1867, it was first established as a separate branch of a...

, Crawford's officiating experience includes 12 years of high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 basketball, eight years of collegiate officiating experience in the Missouri Valley Conference

Missouri Valley Conference

The Missouri Valley Conference is a college athletic conference whose members are located in the midwestern United States...

 and Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference

Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference

The Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NAIA. Its 14 members are located in the Midwestern United States...

, and four years in the Continental Basketball Association

Continental Basketball Association

The Continental Basketball Association was a professional men's basketball league in the United States, which has been on hiatus since the 2009 season.- History :...

 (CBA). He now lives in Naperville, Illinois

Naperville, Illinois

Naperville is a city in DuPage and Will Counties in Illinois in the United States, voted the second best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2006. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 141,853. It is the fifth largest city in the state, behind Chicago,...

, where his son Drew Crawford played basketball at Naperville Central High School

Naperville Central High School

Naperville Central High School is a public four-year comprehensive school ranked in the top 3% of high schools nationally by US News and World Report, covering grades nine through twelve in Naperville, Illinois, a suburb southwest of Chicago in the United States...

. Drew is now a starting sophomore guard-forward at Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

.

It has been alleged that Crawford calls a disproportionate number of fouls

Foul (basketball)

In basketball, a foul is an infraction of the rules concerning illegal personal contact with an opponent and/or unsportsmanlike behavior. A personal foul is the most common type of foul in basketball. Due to the nature of the game, personal fouls occur on occasion and are not always regarded as...

 against the Dallas Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association , and the reigning NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.According to a 2011...

, according to an article posted on the ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 website. In the article, it states:

"The Mavs have a 2-16 record in playoff games officiated by Crawford, including 16 losses in the last 17 games. Dallas is 48-41 in the rest of their playoff games during the ownership tenure of Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban is an American business magnate and investor. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet....

, who has been fined millions of dollars in the last 11 years for publicly complaining about officiating. The Mavs have been called for 2.3 fouls per game more than their opponents in playoff games officiated by Crawford, compared to a nearly even foul differential in their other playoff games since 2001. Dallas has averaged 6.8 fewer free throw

Free throw

In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points from a restricted area on the court , and are generally awarded after a foul on the shooter by the opposing team...

s than their opponents in playoff games Crawford has worked. Opponents have an edge in free throw differential in the rest of the Mavs' playoff games, but it's only by a little more than one attempt per game."

Disgraced referee Tim Donaghy

Tim Donaghy

Tim Donaghy is a former professional basketball referee who worked in the National Basketball Association for 13 seasons, from 1994 to 2007. During his career in the NBA, Donaghy officiated in 772 regular season games and 20 playoff games...

 has claimed on ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...

that Crawford is "proud" of the Mavericks' record under his officiating.