The referee who drew the ire of Indiana Pacers fans for some of his calls in Game 4 of the NBA Finals will not be on the court when the Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder meet in a winner-take-all Game 7 tonight.
Under the league’s rotation system, Scott Foster was in line to be one of the three officials calling Game 7 but earlier Sunday, the NBA revealed that James Capers will serve as crew chief, with Josh Tiven as referee and Sean Wright as umpire.
Foster is one of the league’s highest-rated referees who has called 25 Finals games over the course of his career. However, he and the crew were criticized after Game 4, when both teams combined to shoot 71 free throws — 38 of them by the Thunder.
However, on the NBA’s Last Two-Minute Report, referee operations examined 17 plays and found they were all “correct calls” or “correct no-calls.”
The criticism became so prevalent that Pacers coach Rick Carlisle felt a need to step in and defend Foster.
“I think it’s awful some of the things I’ve seen about officiating, and Scott Foster in particular,” Carlisle said on June 15. “I’ve known Scott Foster for 30 years. He is a great official. He has done a great job in these playoffs. We’ve had him a lot of times. The ridiculous scrutiny that is being thrown out there is terrible and unfair and unjust and stupid.”
The Pacers evened the series and forced Game 7 by defeating the Thunder 108-91 in Indianapolis Thursday night.