OKLAHOMA CITY — Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle defended referee Scott Foster, who has come under fire for his officiating in Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
“It’s awful what some of the things I’ve seen about the officiating and Scott Foster in particular,” Carlisle said before the Pacers’ practice on Sunday afternoon. “He’s a great official, he’s done a great job in this playoffs.”
Carlisle acknowledged his relationship with Foster goes back 30 years, to when Foster began officiating in the NBA during the 1994-95 season. Foster has been given the nickname “The Extender” for the perception that teams trailing in a playoff series have often won games he has officiated, causing the series to go on more games.
“We’ve had him a lot of times,” Carlisle said. “And this ridiculous scrutiny that’s being thrown out there is terrible and unfair and unjust and stupid.”
Carlisle said he did not want to get into specifics about what scrutiny he was responding to.
The Pacers and Thunder combined to shoot 71 free throws in Game 4 on Friday night in Indianapolis, with the Thunder having a 38-33 edge. There were two flagrant fouls, two technical fouls and 53 total foul calls in the game.
“There were a crap ton of fouls. That’s why there were a crap ton of free throws,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said afterward. “I thought the refs did a good job tonight. Both teams shot a lot of free throws. It was physical. That was what the game was. It was a physical game on both ends of the floor for both teams.”
But an apparent missed call with 2:23 remaining in the fourth quarter as the Thunder made their comeback caught the ire of fans. Thunder guard and NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander appeared to commit an offensive foul by pushing off Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith as he defended him, before Gilgeous-Alexander hit the go-ahead jumper to put Oklahoma City up 104-103.
Gilgeous-Alexander shot eight free throws in the fourth quarter as the Thunder won the game 111-104 to tie the series at 2.
Game 5 is Monday night (8:30 ET on ABC) in Oklahoma City.
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