There’s nothing like a high-stakes Game 4 meltdown to bring out the tinfoil hats and magnifying glasses. And that’s exactly what we got after the Oklahoma City Thunder stormed back from a double-digit deficit to stun the Indiana Pacers 111–104 and knot the NBA Finals at 2–2. But forget the comeback, forget Shai Gilgeous-Alexander channeling his inner Michael Jordan in the clutch, and even forget Alex Caruso turning into the second coming of Ron Harper. The real postgame fireworks? Rick Carlisle went full defense mode for… NBA referee Scott Foster. And ESPN insiders think there’s more to the story than just a coach being polite.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. The Pacers missed all eight of their threes in the fourth quarter and shot 27.8% overall in crunch time. Tyrese Haliburton looked hesitant, as the ball stuck to his hands like superglue, and Rick Carlisle admitted postgame that “the ball movement died.” But when asked about officiating? Carlisle didn’t flinch. He went straight to the mic with a passionate—and very suspiciously timed—defense of the league’s most infamous ref.

“As far as officiating, I think it’s awful—some of the things I’ve seen about the officiating and Scott Foster in particular,” Carlisle said. “I’ve known Scott Foster for 30 years. He is a great official. He has done a great job in these playoffs. We’ve had him a lot of times. The ridiculous scrutiny that is being thrown out there is terrible, and unfair, and unjust, and stupid.”

Now here’s where things get juicy. Tim MacMahon chimed in, calling all the Scott Foster hate “whiny and embarrassing,” adding that it was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, not the officiating, who decided the game. But ESPN’s Tim Bontemps cracked open the real reason behind Carlisle’s odd timing: “There’s a probably 75% chance there’ll be a Game 7 in this series—and a 100% chance that if there is, Scott Foster will be the crew chief.”

Yep. You read that right.

According to Bontemps, the NBA sets up its officiating crews based on earlier game assignments. The refs who work Games 3 and 4 usually reappear in Game 7. Bontemps even laid out the logic like a coaching clipboard: “If you’re a road team in Game 7, you’re gonna feel pretty good if Scott Foster is the crew chief. Because if there’s one thing he’s known for—it’s not being afraid to make a call in front of 20,000 hostile fans.”

Windhorst doubled down, too: “I’ve said this many times before and I’ll say it again—Scott Foster is not afraid to make any call against any player at any time, anywhere.”

Foster is routinely rated by the NBA as one of the league’s top officials, which explains why he is on the rotating pool of officials who work the finals game. And if statistics are to be believed, then he has officiated at least one finals game every season since 2008, and heading into the 2025 finals, he had worked 25 championship series games.

Additionally, the 55-year-old carries the reputation of an “extender” of playoff series owing to the belief that the teams trailing in the series tend to win games in which he officiates. Further, the NBA ref is also infamous among players for his sometimes confrontational attitude when working games.

Moving on, Carlisle’s quote might sound like a heartfelt tribute to a long-standing colleague, but back on the court, it was a different story. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 15 points in the final 4:38. Chet Holmgren grabbed 15 rebounds, and Alex Caruso? He put up 20 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 steals.

While that is that, this is not the first time Scott Foster has been the recipient of fan backlash over controversial calls.

Scott Foster and the controversial calls

Remember when Foster seemed extra aggressive towards Nikola Jokić during Game 4 of the 2023 NBA Finals? He called Jokic for the fifth foul, but the contact was not at all conspicuous and could have, what many would say, easily been shrugged off. But not Scott. He went on to call it a technical foul, leading to a frenzy among fans. But this was just one chapter out of the 2023 horror.

During Game 7 between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, Scott called the technical foul on Jaylen Brown. But the video showed explicitly that Brown just reacted to the push and didn’t make any intentional contact. However, Scott stuck to his decision, but it was later revoked by the NBA on the grounds of an erroneous decision.

Reflecting on the same, Brown said, “I don’t know which way I should have responded to it. But if didn’t do anything, it probably would have played on. And here comes Scott Foster, right away before even deciphering the situation, gives me a tech.”

So yeah, say what you want about officiating. Maybe Rick Carlisle does believe everything he said. Maybe his inner Coach Carter came out. But as ESPN insiders made clear, it’s no coincidence that this praise landed when Foster is almost guaranteed to be running the show if this thing goes to seven. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below.