In January, James Harden called Scott Foster – whom Chris Paul also had problems with – “rude and arrogant” and said the referee shouldn’t be allowed to officiate Rockets games.
Foster hasn’t worked a Houston game since.
That’ll change tonight.
With the Rockets engaged in aggressive information warfare about officiating, the NBA assigned Foster, Ed Malloy and Eric Lewis to Houston-Golden State Game 2.
The NBA says these assignments were made before the series started (they just weren’t announced until the day of the game). I hope that is true. The league shouldn’t assign referees spitefully. Nor should the league allow whining teams to dictate referee assignments.
After last year’s hard-fought seven-game Western Conference finals, I had high hopes for this Warriors-Rockets rematch. After only one game, Houston’s complaining about the officiating has sucked so much fun out of this. Tonight will go a long way in determining whether the series can become enjoyable.