-
Kendra Andrews, ESPN
PHOENIX — Add another incident to the long-lived conflict between Golden State Warriors guard Chris Paul and referee Scott Foster as Paul was ejected from Wednesday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns after Foster slapped him with two quick technical fouls.
This was Paul’s seventh career ejection.
With 23 seconds left in the first half, Phoenix forward Kevin Durant drew contact from Paul, which the 6-foot-1 guard vehemently disagreed with. As Durant lined up to shoot his free throws, Paul continuously chirped at Foster, the crew chief for the night.
It didn’t take long before Foster assessed his first technical foul on Paul. And seconds later, he hit him with his second — ejecting him from the game. Paul finished the night with six points and six assists.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr also picked up a technical for yelling at Foster after Paul’s ejection.
This dynamic isn’t new for Foster and Paul. Paul’s teams (the LA Clippers, Rockets, Thunder and Suns) have lost 13 consecutive playoff games when Foster has been the chief crew. Paul’s overall playoff record is 2-17 dating back to 2008, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Back in 2018, in a regular season game Paul’s Rockets won, he called out Foster for assessing him a tech.
“He just never fails,” Paul said. “Some of them, you can [communicate] with. You’ve just gotta figure out who you can and you can’t. I got a tech tonight. I’m over there with [referee Courtney Kirkland] saying, ‘That’s Scott, that’s Scott,’ and I got a tech. There’s history there. He’s the man. That’s who they pay to see.”
Paul was a major bright spot for Golden State in the first half of Wednesday’s contest, which ended with a Suns’ 23-5 run. His six assists were more than the rest of the Warriors combined (5), and the team shot 50% when Paul created the offense from a shot or pass. That’s compared to the 35% when Paul wasn’t involved.