The NBA has announced the referees for Wednesday night’s Warriors-Los Angeles Lakers play-in game and history suggests the Dubs could face an uphill battle.
The trio of John Goble, Tre Maddox and Josh Tiven will be on the floor while Brian Forte will be an alternate. The Warriors haven’t fared well in recent games officiated by Goble or Maddox.
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According to NBA data analyst Owen Phillips, Maddox and Goble have a history of calling personal fouls and technical fouls with a high frequency against the Warriors and Lakers.
Ideally, the 10 players on the floor will decide the action, but referees are part of the game. Emotions will be running high as Steph Curry, Draymond Green and the Warriors take on LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers with a ticket to the first round of the playoffs on the line.
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Golden State Warriors
Goble and Maddox ironically were on the officiating crew with Tony Brown in the Warriors-Houston Rockets game in 2019 when an infamous call went the Warriors’ way. Kevin Durant went completely out of bounds trying to save a ball but play wasn’t stopped. The Rockets ultimately went on to win the game 135-134.
That 1-14 mark is hard to ignore, but the Warriors have to be more concerned with James and Davis than they do about Goble and Maddox.