Dick Bavetta officiated a record 2,635 straight games, never missing an assigned game, over his 39-year career. He has heard the good, the bad and the ugly as an NBA ref. A day before his enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, the longest tenured NBA referee reflected on the lighter side of officiating:
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Dick Bavetta and Tim Duncan had beef at one point.
It started in Portland underneath the basket, where Duncan battled for a rebound that tipped out of bounds late in a tight game.
"Portland ball," the longtime ref signaled.
The Spurs forward emphatically challenged the call before heading to his team's huddle for a timeout, but Bavetta stuck with his call in the no-replay era. Coming out of the timeout, Duncan had more words for Bavetta.
"I'll bet you money that you got the play wrong."
Bavetta, who was mic'd for the nationally televised game, quickly raised the stakes.
"I can't bet you money. How about a hamburger? Let's bet a hamburger," he countered.
Deal.
After watching a replay postgame, Bavetta had no choice but to bite the "burger" as Duncan was right and he was wrong.
"So about 10 days later, I have a game in San Antonio and on my way to the game, I stop off at a McDonalds and I get a Happy Meal," Bavetta said. "And I get one of the locker-room kids to deliver it, and I put a note, 'Timmy, you were absolutely right. I missed the call. Enjoy the hamburger."
Beef squashed.
---
Long before the kiss that took the 2007 All-Star Game by surprise was the kiss that took Bavetta by surprise.
The referee expected to have time off during the All-Star break but found himself in Las Vegas, stretching on the court in preparation to race Charles Barkley 3½ full-court sprints that ended with Barkley winning while backpedalling.
But before the race that went down in All-Star history began, Bavetta looked over his shoulder and asked himself, "What's wrong with this picture?"
"I see my wife hugging and kissing Charles," he said. "And they're talking and they're laughing and they're going back and forth."
Bavetta moved close enough to hear but not interrupt.
"I hear him say to her, 'I hope you understand this [race] is all in good fun. And there's nothing mean-spirited by it. I really love the guy.' And she said, 'I don't have a problem with that.' He goes, 'You're not upset?' She goes, 'No. In fact, I hope you beat him.'"
Bavetta's wife got her wish, and Bavetta also got a kiss -- one firmly fixed in the best sports kisses of all-time.
"It really just took on a life of its own," Bavetta said of the post-race kiss before joking about the status of their current relationship. "I saw him [Thursday] morning. Hugged and kissed again. It's like an old breakup and then you get back together again. You see each other like nothing ever happened."
---
Barkley was tough on referees during his career, and despite the fun they had during the 2007 All-Star weekend, Bavetta was no exception when the festivities ended.
Bavetta always looked for ways to cool down players in heated moments during his longtime career, and he found a method that worked for Barkley, in a newspaper no less.
"I read in the paper that he was a big soap opera fan. That he liked 'All My Children.' So I had [his] game that night. He's in Phoenix. I make a call ... timeout. He said that's the worst call. I said, 'Just go back to your huddle. I don't even want to talk.' Then I said, 'Wait a second, did you watch 'All My Children' today?'"
Barkley stopped in his tracks and looked at Bavetta.
"You watch 'All My Children'?"
"I said, 'Yeah, Erica Kane is now involved with this show -- you've got to be kidding me. And Tad [Martin] is going out with some waitress."
Barkley, out of the loop, was stunned.
"I said, 'You gotta check it out,'" Bavetta said. "By this point he's back at the huddle. No more conversation about the call. The downside to that is every time I had him in a game, I had to watch 'All My Children.' I was afraid he'd ask me a question."
---
The Nuggets had just shocked the world in 1994 to become the first No. 8 seed in NBA history to beat a No. 1 seed in the playoffs in five games with a 98-94 win.
Bavetta vividly remembers that moment in history. After all, he almost messed up an iconic photo.
Dikembe Mutombo, who will also be enshrined in Friday's Basketball Hall of Fame, was lying on his back, ball raised to the sky (or basketball Gods) in celebration of the Game 5 win.
"I'm running over to him and saying, 'Give me the ball,'" Bavetta recalled.
"You can not have the ball," he said, according to Bavetta. "So I'm glad I acquiesced and left because that became an iconic moment."