http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/241147/Joey-Crawford-Has-Worked-Final-NBA-Game
Joey Crawford has worked his last NBA game as his injured knee hasn't responded well enough to rehabilitation.
Sidelined since November by recurring pain and arthritis in his right knee and recovering since surgery Dec. 4 on a meniscus tear in that knee, Crawford had hoped to return March 1 for what was left of his 39th and final NBA season and postseason.
"You turn the page, y'know, and you think, 'It's somebody else's turn,' " Crawford told NBA.com in a phone interview Wednesday. "But you still miss it. You miss the people.
"I'm just lucky that a lot of the refs, they'll call me up. I don't know if they do it because they feel sorry for me, but they'll say, 'Can you break down a quarter for me here or a quarter there?
"I was lucky. For 35 years or so it was only like, a calf [strain] here or there. But the last two years, my 38th and 39th, it just broke down on me. What're ya gonna do? You just move on."
Crawford, 64, worked 2,561 regular-season games, second all-time to 2015 Hall of Fame inductee Dick Bavetta (2,635).
