Duncan, referee Crawford in heated verbal battle

Losing a tense, physical, emotional game to their top rival and being forced to settle for the third seed in the Western Conference was bad enough for Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

Even worse: Duncan is convinced referee Joey Crawford is out to get him, with a brawl possibly needed to settle things.

Crawford hit Duncan with 2 technical fouls just 1:16 apart late in the third quarter of San Antonio’s 91-86 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. The second came while he was laughing on the bench and meant an automatic ejection, just the second of his nine-year career.

“He looked at me and said, ‘Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?’æ” 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?’æ”

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, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 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.”

Crawford disagreed, saying that “he was complaining the whole game.”

“And then he went over to the bench and he was over there doing the same stuff behind our back,” Crawford said. “I hit him with one (technical) and he kept going over there, and I look over there and he’s still complaining. So I threw him out.”

Crawford spoke to a pool reporter before Duncan spoke to the media. Asked about Duncan not thinking he deserved to be tossed, Crawford said: “That’s his opinion. He said nothing when he was walking off the court and he called me a piece of (expletive). Is that nothing?”

San Antonio had won six straight and was on a 12-1 roll. The only loss came against Indiana — another game that Crawford worked and another game that he rang up a T on Duncan.

“I kind of imagine it stemmed from that,” Duncan said. “I don’t have a problem with Joey. Obviously he’s got a problem with me.”