Getty James Harden
The officiating in the Rockets-Warriors series has become a popular topic after a controversial Game 1. Scott Foster (No. 48) is the crew chief for Game 2 with referee Ed Malloy (No. 14) and umpire Eric Lewis (No. 42). Rodney Mott (No. 71) is the alternate for tonight’s game.
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported that Foster is the referee “most reviled” by the Rockets and will lead the Game 2 crew much to the chagrin of Houston. Earlier this season, James Harden expressed his belief that Foster has a personal vendetta against him, per ESPN.
Foster, a 25-year NBA veteran, has not worked a Rockets game since James Harden publicly criticized him after the superstar fouled out of Houston’s Feb. 21 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Harden, who was fined $25,000 by the NBA the next day, declared then that Foster should not be assigned any more Rockets games because of his personal issues with them.
“It’s lingering, and it’s something that has to be looked at for sure,” said Harden, who described Foster as “just rude and arrogant” when interacting with players. “For sure, it’s personal. For sure. I don’t think he should be able to even officiate our games anymore, honestly.”
This is a different crew than the Game 1 officials. Courtney Kirkland, Zach Zarba, Josh Tiven and Tre Maddox were the Game 1 officiating crew. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the NBA stood by the no-call on James Harden’s final three-point shot, but noted a foul should have been called on Steph Curry against Eric Gordon.
“The NBA’s last two-minute report verdict on James Harden’s 3-point shot with 10.1 seconds left in Game 1 against Golden State: No foul. Stephen Curry incident with Eric Gordon with 5.2 seconds: Incorrect non-call,” Charania tweeted.
The Rockets Audited Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals & Claim Officiating Cost Houston a Trip to the NBA Finals
According to ESPN, the Rockets conducted an audit of the 2018 Western Conference Finals Game 7 and found there were 81 missed calls. Houston ended up not sending the report to the NBA, but communicated the findings during in-person meetings.
“Referees likely changed the eventual NBA champion. There can be no worse result for the NBA,” the memo noted, per ESPN.
The study assigned point values to the missed calls, a methodology the NBA disagrees with as ESPN detailed.
The full report obtained by ESPN lists 81 total calls, non-calls and violations. It concludes that those 81 instances cost Houston a total of 18.6 points in that game.
In its own reports, the league does not attach point values to missed calls and non-calls.
“As we told the Rockets, we do not agree with their methodology,” Mike Bass, an NBA spokesman, told ESPN on Monday.
A Game 1 Official Appeared to Be Wearing Kevin Durant’s Shoes
As the above photo shows, there is some speculation that one of the referees was wearing Kevin Durant’s shoes during Game 1. Even if this is true, it is a big stretch to claim that this somehow impacted the way he officiated the game on Sunday. That said, it is not the best look for the NBA given the controversy surrounding Game 1. It seems reasonable to require referees not to wear the shoes of players during the games they are officiating.