During last night’s Houston Rockets’ 121-111 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, there was a sense of questionable officiating once again. In a tense environment that has now become a daily conflict between players and officials, a couple of calls stood out from the game. One of them was veteran referee Scott Foster calling a technical foul on Chris Paul late in the fourth quarter when the All-Star point guard was not even talking to him.
There was a shooting foul called on teammate P.J. Tucker that sent Damian Lillard to the line for essentially free points in a close game. Paul approached official Courtney Kirkland and argued about the call. The conversation between him and referee Kirkland was under control, but Scott Foster decided to call a technical foul on Paul from essentially the other side of the court.
In post-game media availability, after an outstanding performance of 37 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds, and three steals, Paul commented on the incident. In the video, courtesy of ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Paul made a couple of sarcastic comments and questioned Foster’s call:
“I got a tech tonight. Yeah, Scott Foster at its finest. You know what I mean? He just, never fails… I’m over there with Courtney saying ‘That’s Scott’, and I get a tech. There’s history there. So Scott, he the man! That’s who they pay to see.
Paul, the President of the NBA Players Association, also gave a general opinion on referee issues:
“Man, you just gotta hope there’s a system in place, just making sure they get checked as much as we do. Because even some of those double-techs they call, it’s really quickly and stuff like that, you know, that’s $2,500 every time a tech is called on a player.”
CP3 referred to the fine players receive when they get a technical foul. This season, Paul already has six of them. He acted surprised when he was informed he had six. “That’s crazy,” Paul said. He also added he would probably take part in a meeting during All-Star weekend to address player-referee issues. Nobody is safe from the tense atmosphere, but it is clear there needs to be a resolution quick before the situation gets even more out of hand.
The post Chris Paul’s sarcastic comment on referee who called technical foul on him appeared first on ClutchPoints.
