NBA referee Scott Foster suffered an ugly injury on Thursday night.
During Game 2 of the Western Conference finals between the Thunder and Timberwolves, Foster, 58, got a brutal blow to the face from Oklahoma City forward Luguentz Dort following a jump ball midway through the first quarter.
Dort, up against Timberwolves forward Julius Randle, whiffed on the ball, with his hand striking Foster during the play.
Randle also accidentally hit Foster during the jump ball, kicking him in the stomach.
Foster was left with a bloody nose, causing a brief delay in the game as he received medical attention from the trainers.
This is not Foster’s first injury this season, as he was forced to exit a regular-season game between the Knicks and Heat with a calf injury.
What makes Foster’s injury tonight interesting, however, is who was in the arena to see it.
Veteran point guard Chris Paul, who was on the sidelines during Thursday’s game for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP presentation, has a long history with Foster, a referee he’s openly complained about in the past.
Paul, 40, has an abysmal 3-17 record in playoff games that Foster has officiated, and has not been afraid to call him out.
The pair’s squabbles first started back in 2018, when Paul singled out Foster after the official gave him a technical foul during a regular-season game.
“Yeah, Scott Foster at his finest,” Paul said that night. “You know what I mean? He just never fails. Some of them, you can [communicate] with. You’ve just gotta figure out who you can and you can’t. I got a tech tonight.
“I’m over there with [referee Courtney Kirkland] saying, ‘That’s Scott, that’s Scott,’ and I got a tech. That’s history there. He the man. That’s who they pay to see.”
Foster, after getting the medical attention, stayed in the game.
