Chris Paul‘s return to Phoenix was cut short on Wednesday night, as the Warriors guard was assessed with a pair of technical fouls and ejected from the game during the final minute of the second quarter. The referee who handed out those technicals was Paul’s longtime nemesis Scott Foster, as Kendra Andrews of ESPN.com writes.
“It’s personal,” Paul said. “We had a situation some years ago and it’s personal. The league knows. Everybody knows. There’s been a meeting and all of that. … I’m OK with a ref saying whatever they’re saying, but don’t use a tech to get your point across.”
While Paul’s teammates and head coach Steve Kerr generally agreed that the veteran guard earned his first technical by complaining about a foul call, they took issue with Foster’s decision to hit him with a second technical just seconds later. Foster said after the game that both technicals were for “unsportsmanlike conduct” (Twitter link via Kellan Olson of Arizona Sports).
“I didn’t think Chris deserved to be ejected,” Kerr said. “The first tech, absolutely. But I thought the second one was unnecessary. Everybody gets frustrated out there.”
“When both player and ref engage in conversation, that has to stay there,” Stephen Curry said. “I told Scott that after he ejected him. There are certain situations where players overstep. There are times when you know you have to back off. But when both are engaging, I don’t like that.”
As Andrews details, Paul’s former teams lost 13 games in a row in which Foster was the crew chief, and he has a 3-17 playoff record in games that Foster has officiated. CP3’s teams were favored in 15 of those 20 contests, according to Tom Habertstroh (Substack link).
According to Andrews, the animosity between Paul and Foster may have originated during the guard’s stint with the Clippers. In his media session following Wednesday’s loss, Paul mentioned an incident involving his son and Foster from that time, adding that it led to a meeting that included him, his father, Foster, and former Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, among others (Twitter video link via NBC Sports Bay Area).
Paul declined to go into further detail about that incident, suggesting that he’ll simply need to avoid putting himself in position to be T’d up in future games that Foster officiates.
“I’ve got to do a better job at staying there for my teammates, but it is what it is,” he said, per Andrews. “I’ll probably see [Foster] in a Game 7 sometime soon.”
CP3 was not up staging the Ref. CP3 was getting frustrated because Nurkic was pushing in the back and elbowing all night long and no calls against him. Even Moody got kneed in the balls and no call on Booker.
Who are you arguing with
I came here for an argument!
No you didn’t.
I’m not sure how the NBA doesn’t view this as detrimental to the league? Foster clearly can’t officiate a game objectively if CP3 is involved dating back to his Clipper days. I would have fired Foster, you have cause. At the very least I would not have him officiate any CP3 games. It also impacts betting.
Impacts betting? The league should not care about that aspect… however, I do! And have made a pretty penny off this feud over time.
League is in bed with betting outfits, like DraftKings and FanDuel so I mean they obviously care to a degree.
Does anyone know the details of the beef between CP3 and Foster? It happened when CP3 was with the clippers.
This is hilarious, and pretty dang smart…
Idk if you’re just joking around, or being serious…But if you aren’t joking those were some smart bets, excellent job!! lol
Seems obvious this ref has a personal issue with Chris. This game is not about the refs. NBA should not have let this go on this long. Get your house in order commissioner.
Ridiculous. If a ref is going to engage with a player they should not use their whistle to resolve the matter. With league knowing there’s deep history here (especially with his child involved) you would think Foster would be assigned elsewhere. It’s just not a good look. Sure they don’t want it to look like a player is dictating assignments, but come on now. Can’t be good going forward for sure. This is crazy.
The players are going to complain, it is part of the game.
As a referee, official, & umpire myself, you are there to do your job and get out. A good day is when Noone notices you whatsoever. It is NOT about you.
Noone pays to see or hear the refs. Foster needs to get checked by his superiors and his fellow refs. Sadly, there is ALWAYS that one guy that let’s any power get to his head.
The NBA doesn’t need to avoid him refereeing his games, they need to punish Foster for being overly sensitive and not being able to control his emotions.
Plain and simple, this is ridiculous.
I’m not absolving Chris Paul of the situation, either. He knows there is history, so naturally he’s probably quicker to complain about one of Foster’s calls. However, he can only control what he can control, and that’s his attitude and not barking.
Either way, this is embarassing for the NBA. These issues get smashed right away at the Little League, High School, and Division II college levels IMMEDIATELY!! Why can’t the NBA get this under control?? Absolutely ridiculous if you ask me.
Put them in the same room with Silver. Have them talk it out, and notify both parties of severe punishment if there are any further issues. It isn’t THAT difficult.
Good post richardc. I’ve officiated HS ball for 35 years. I worked hard to develope respectful relationships with players, coaches, and administrators. And very importantly fellow officials. That last statement is critical because when you have something like the Foster thing happen, his partners are now in crosshairs–not just him. Now I know officiating HS is nothing like officiating millionaires, but in a way it’s all relative. Working a State final at the largest classification in front of 6000 people was a huge challenge BUT I was prepared for it after calling games for 20 years leading up to it. It was my “nba” challenge. But if I had a partner who was tech happy I always shared this that I learned early in my career: Players and coaches don’t respect the tech, they usually only FEAR them. So that lesson became a talking point with every evaluation I gave when mentoring on the floor and in the classroom. It’s simple, do you want the participants fearing you or do you want them respecting you. Listening to the participants (Paul, Curry, Kerr) I’d say they don’t respect Foster as much as they fear the techs.
I too am a multi-year official. This is not an agree to disagree and move on type of situation. Even with fines, penalties, and other threats neither party is likely to feel anything they do won’t be scrutinized. There will always be an elephant in the room when they encounter each other. Regardless of who is deemed right or wrong. They’ve already been in the same room and look where we are in spite of it. Something else has to give.
Four words: National Basketball Referees Association. Far too much power. You see the same thing in baseball.
Which team wins games shouldn’t be due to biased officiating. Since the evidence is conclusive, the league should have fixed it long ago.
Foster is a joke to let his emotions control his whistle