NBA assigns Scott Foster to officiate Warriors-Celtics Game 3

The NBA announced the officials for Game 3 of the Finals Wednesday morning as the league assigned Scott Foster, David Guthrie and Courtney Kirkland to work the matchup between the Warriors and Celtics.

Foster, one of the most senior NBA officials, is known to many fans as “The Extender,” because teams trailing in a playoff series have a better record when he works their games. Foster won’t be able to live up to that reputation on Wednesday in Boston as the series is tied 1-1.

The last time Foster worked a Warriors playoff game was Game 5 of the Western Conference finals when Golden State defeated Dallas to advance to the NBA Finals.

Officiating has been a hot topic of discussion in the days leading up to Game 3 of the NBA Finals, in part because many members of the Celtics organization felt referees let Warriors star Draymond Green off the hook in the Warriors’ Game 2 win.

After Green was assessed a technical foul during the first half of Game 2 on Sunday, it appeared as though he narrowly avoided another when he and Celtics guard Jaylen Brown got tangled up near the sideline.

“I’m just trying to play basketball. I feel like that was an illegal play,” Brown said postgame. “I feel like they could have called it, but they let it go in terms of a technical either way. But I don’t know what I was supposed to do there. Somebody got their legs on the top of your head and then he tried to pull my pants down. I don’t know what that was about.”

An officiating crew led by crew chief Zach Zarba elected to call Green for a common foul and not a technical, which would have triggered an automatic ejection.

“No, I was not surprised there was a double technical not called,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said postgame. “Not surprised at all. Due to the circumstances.”

Udoka’s comment regarding the circumstances appeared to be a reference to Green already having one technical foul, meaning a second would have robbed Golden State of one of its most vital players.