Scott Foster not chosen as Capers, Tiven, Wright to ref Game 7 - ESPN

OKLAHOMA CITY — Veteran NBA official Scott Foster was not selected as one of the three referees for Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers on Sunday night.

The referees who were selected to officiate the first Finals Game 7 since 2016 — and just the ninth since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976 — were James Capers, Josh Tiven and Sean Wright, with James Williams serving as an alternate.

Foster, who has worked more Finals series (18) and games (26) than any of the 12 referees selected to officiate the series by the NBA, had been expected to be chosen to not only officiate this game but also likely to serve as its crew chief — the role he held for his lone appearance during these Finals in Game 4 in Indiana on June 13.

After a lot of online discussion — particularly among Pacers fans — about the officiating in that Thunder win and about Foster specifically, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle went out of his way to defend Foster prior to Game 5.

«I think it's awful some of the things I've seen about the officiating and Scott Foster in particular,» Carlisle said on June 15. «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."

Carlisle said he did not want to get into specifics about what that scrutiny was.

Foster has long been considered one of the NBA's top officials, but he has also become a lightning rod for attention, as various players, teams and fan bases have taken issue with his work.

The other three referees who served as crew chiefs over the first four games of the series — John Goble (Game 1), Zach Zarba