Programming note: Watch the pregame edition of Warriors Outsiders Tuesday night at 6, streaming live on the MyTeams app.
The officiating is already the main narrative surrounding the Warriors-Rockets Western Conference Semifinals series.
And based on the news we received Tuesday morning, the discussion is only going to intensify.
The referees for Game 2 are Scott Foster, Ed Malloy and Eric Lewis. This is noteworthy for several reasons.
First, after fouling out of the Rockets' loss to the Lakers back on Feb. 22, James Harden had a lot to say.
"Scott Foster, man. I never really talk about officiating or anything like that -- but just rude and arrogant," Harden told reporters. "You aren't able to talk to him throughout the course of a game. How do you improve that relationship with officials?
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"It's just who he is on that floor. It's pretty frustrating. I'm probably gonna get hit (with a fine), but it's one of those things where you can't voice your opinion, you can't have a conversation with somebody that's officiating a game. That's pretty sad."
The Beard was correct. The NBA fined him $25,000 for his comments.
As for Harden's dealings with Foster:
"For sure it's personal. For sure," Harden said. "I don't think he should be able to officiate our games anymore, honestly."
Furthermore, Foster officiated Games 1 and 7 of last year's Western Conference Finals. The Warriors won both of those contests in Houston and as we learned on Monday, the Rockets believe the referees heavily favored Golden State in that series.
[RELATED: Last Two Minute Report: Three incorrect calls favored Dubs]
They audited Game 7 and determined there were 81 combined total calls, non-calls and/or violations that cost them nearly 19 points.
Additionally, Rockets guard Chris Paul has a contentious history with Foster.
My sources are telling me that Scott Foster wired $50,000 to Draymond for setting this screen on CP3 https://t.co/hqeXOuZ0JU— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) February 24, 2019
Things just might get very, very interesting at Oracle Arena tonight...
