The Houston Rockets suffered a brutal loss on Thursday night. Despite leading by as many as 19 points against the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston was unable to keep LeBron James and co. at bay, falling 111-106 in Staples Center. Letting the game get away from them was brutal, especially because the game saw James Harden foul out behind four offensive fouls. Chris Paul and Mike D’Antoni were obviously frustrated down the stretch, both getting hit with technical fouls.
After the game, both Harden and Paul decided to lay into the game’s crew chief, veteran referee Scott Foster. Paul revealed that his gripes with Foster go way beyond this one game, to the point that he “met with the league with him before and all this stuff” about gripes he’s had with Foster’s officiating performances in the past.
Harden was even more upset than Paul. The reigning league MVP believes there is something “personal” with Foster, and went as far as to say he shouldn’t be allowed to officiate Houston games anymore.
James Harden says "it's personal" between him and "arrogant" ref Scott Foster 😤
➡️ https://t.co/iECiEHGuMv pic.twitter.com/6i117hBKHh
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 22, 2019
“It’s lingering, and it’s something that has to be looked at for sure,” Harden said, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “For sure, it’s personal. For sure. I don’t think he should be able to even officiate our games anymore, honestly.”
Harden continued to express his thoughts against Foster, claiming that players aren’t able to go up to Foster and “have a conversation” with him, because if you do, “you’re getting a tech.” Beyond that, Harden told the media that Foster’s officiating of Houston leads to him breaking a rule he generally tries to follow.
“I don’t really talk about officials or anything, but I think him in particular, he’s different,” Harden said. As MacMahon tweeted after the game, well, Harden might have a point.
Per @ESPNStatsInfo, Scott Foster called 18 fouls (personal or technical) on Thursday — 12 against the Rockets, six against the Lakers. Seven of the fouls Foster called against the Rockets came in the fourth quarter, including the T he called on Chris Paul.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) February 22, 2019
Free throws in final 20 minutes: Lakers 17, Rockets 0
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) February 22, 2019
Paul and especially Harden aren’t usually guys that express discontent with officials to the media like this, but it’s obvious that they think Foster isn’t able to put aside some type of bad blood he has with the team and call Rockets games fairly. There’s no word on whether the league plans on responding to these comments, or Harden’s belief that Foster should be taken off of Houston games going forward.
