The Houston Rockets and their fans aren’t the only ones to have aired complaints regarding NBA officials Scott Foster and Tony Brothers.
According to a new study by casino.org of sports-focused Reddit communities, Brothers (No. 1) and Foster (No. 2) comprised 69% of the total mentions of NBA officials by name.
Both Foster and Brothers were involved in controversial calls during the 2018 Western Conference Finals between Houston and Golden State, with Rockets’ researchers alleging that poor officiating cost them 93 points over the course of the close seven-game series.
The Rockets assigned expected point values to each incorrect call, as determined by the NBA’s internal officiating reviews.
Reddit analysis: Tony Brothers, Scott Foster are most talked-about NBA refs. https://t.co/ORMIuaotHr pic.twitter.com/mZSUkcXgpL
— theScore (@theScore) March 26, 2020
“Referees likely changed the eventual NBA champion,” the Rockets wrote in a memo summarizing their findings. They also explained that veteran referees “exhibit the most bias against our players.”
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The memo was never formally delivered to the NBA, according to ESPN, with the Rockets instead communicating the message during in-person meetings with the league office.
In February 2019, James Harden called Foster “rude and arrogant” and suggested that he shouldn’t officiate any more Rockets games. “It’s lingering,” Harden said. “It has to be looked at. For sure, it’s personal.”
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Interestingly, Rockets fans were not among the Top 10 NBA fanbases to mention officials, according to the casino.org study. The top three are the Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Lakers, and San Antonio Spurs.
Ben Taylor was the NBA’s most positively mentioned official, while Jason Phillips the most negatively mentioned, according to the study. Phillips now oversees the NBA Replay Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.
The study found 40,456 total NBA officiating mentions by Reddit fans, as compared to 31,065 for MLB and 20,375 for the NFL.
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