Chris Paul’s return to Phoenix ended much earlier than anticipated as his ongoing beef with a certain referee continues.
In the second quarter of the Warriors’ 123-115 loss to the Suns on Wednesday night, Paul got into a heated argument with referee Scott Foster, who promptly ejected the star from the game.
The situation started in the final 23.2 seconds of the second quarter when Kevin Durant was looking to drive toward the net, but the play was stopped as Paul was called for a blocking foul.
As Durant got ready to shoot two free throws, Paul appeared to mimic Durant falling backward while he was discussing things with Foster.
After Durant hit his first free-throw attempt, Paul and Foster continued their chat, which seemed to turn heated.
At that point, Foster had enough and gave Paul one technical foul and then tossed him from the game after the argument didn’t cease.
After getting ejected, Paul continued to walk toward Foster, but Steph Curry grabbed Paul’s right arm in order to restrain him from doing anything further.
In the middle of the fray, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr also was given a technical.
“I didn’t think Chris deserved to be ejected,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the Warriors’ loss. “The first tech? Absolutely. But I thought the second one was unnecessary. Everybody gets frustrated out there, but that’s up to the official.”
Warriors team personnel had to get between Paul and Foster before the guard left the court.
Paul and Foster have a long, acrimonious history, with the point guard complaining about Foster’s officiating for nearly a decade.
Now Paul says that a years-old issue that involves his son is at least part of the reason for the friction.
“It’s personal,” Paul said. “We had a situation some years ago and it’s personal. The league knows, everybody knows. There’s been a meeting and all that. It’s just a situation with my son. I’m OK with a ref saying whatever — just don’t use a tech to get your point across.
“I’ve got to do a better job of making sure I’m staying on the floor for my teammates, but that’s that.”
Paul declined to provide additional details of the situation with his son, though he said it happened when he was with the Los Angeles Clippers, who he played for from 2011-17.
There’s plenty of other history between Paul and Foster over the years, including in January 2018 when Paul called the official out over a different incident in which he received a technical.
“I got a tech tonight. Scott Foster at his finest, you know what I mean?” Paul said after the game when he was a member of the Rockets.
Paul even got into a heated argument with Foster — as a member of the Thunder — when he was in the 2020 bubble playoffs.
The following year, with the Suns, Paul seemed flabbergasted at his teams’ lack of success with Foster officiating in the postseason, as the star guard had 11 straight losses with Foster on the court.
Paul’s teams eventually lost 13 straight playoff games in which Foster officiated, but he finally broke through with a victory with the Suns against the Clippers last season in the first round of the playoffs.
But now, playing against the Suns with Golden State, it seems the rivalry is still on.
— with AP