Try this tip by Sparx to see if it stops the crashes:
SparX wrote:try this..
NBA LIVE 2003\audio\speech folder
rename 0gamespch to gamespch
commentator volume to 0
my game crashes if i change that to 0gamespch
didn't sure if it will work for you guys
You could also try my 5-on-5 gym patch and see if that works. Since the gym install is slightly different, that would likely narrow down what's causing the crashes to the audio files.
Please keep in mind, though, that these patches are making the game do something it wasn't designed to do, so it may not be possible to get it running 100% all of the time. But I'll do my best to try to keep it bug free.
BTW, thanks, Ben, I got another email from Tony verifying the first email. Just so everyone knows, I know Tony wouldn't intentionally send me a virus, but some viruses get into your system, attach themselves to one of your files & automatically email that infected file to someone on your address list (I got a virus that way once; it came attached to a Live patch). I just wanted to be careful.