While it’s quite common to see the players and fans from losing teams complain about the officials, Phoenix Suns Point Guard Chris Paul has the record and stats from his playoff games to prove his case against referee Scott Foster.
Scott Foster, who is a veteran NBA referee, has a very suspicious and heavily lopsided record in when considering Paul’s playoff games that he officiates.
What is the record of NBA ref Scott Foster against Chris Paul and playoffs stats
Chris Paul had lost 13-straight playoff games with Scott Foster officiating until tonight. pic.twitter.com/F2mbYtf46l
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 19, 2023
History on my side though pic.twitter.com/w72xFVzeb1
— Scott Foster (@ScottFoster48) April 18, 2023
Paul had a shocking 2-17 in postseason playoffs matches officiated by Foster prior to his recent game, which included 13 straight losses.
Interestingly, the Suns beat the Clippers 123-109 in Game 2 of their Western Conference playoff series. While the win ended Paul’s losing streak against Foster it surely doesn’t help much in the overall record.
Chris Paul playoff record vs. Scott Foster
In general, comparing player records to officials doesn’t make sense. However, in Paul and Foster’s case, the correlation is hard to ignore.
Chris Paul currently has a 3-17 record in all playoff games officiated by Foster with five different teams. Throughout those games, Paul has played for the Hornets, Clippers, Thunder, Rockets, and the Suns.
In fact, prior to the recent win in Round 1 of the 2023 postseason, Paul has lost 13 straight Foster-officiated playoff games.
Chris Paul stats with Scott Foster
Given below are Chris Paul’s playoff games stats with Scott Foster as the official:
| Date | Team | Opponent | Result | Score | Pts | Ast | Reb | Stl | Fouls |
| 5/18/2023 | Suns | Clippers | Win | Suns 123, Clippers 109 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 4/19/2022 | Suns | Pelicans | Loss | Pelicans 125, Suns 114 | 17 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 7/20/2021 | Suns | Bucks | Loss | Bucks 105, Suns 98 | 26 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 7/11/2021 | Suns | Bucks | Loss | Bucks 120, Suns 100 | 19 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 5/27/2021 | Suns | Lakers | Loss | Lakers 109, Suns 95 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| 9/2/2020 | Thunder | Rockets | Loss | Rockets 104, Thunder 102 | 19 | 12 | 11 | 2 | 2 |
| 4/30/2019 | Rockets | Warriors | Loss | Warriors 115, Rockets 109 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| 5/14/2018 | Rockets | Warriors | Loss | Warriors 119, Rockets 106 | 23 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 4 |
| 5/2/2018 | Rockets | Jazz | Loss | Jazz 116, Rockets 108 | 23 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| 4/25/2017 | Clippers | Jazz | Loss | Jazz 96, Clippers 92 | 28 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| 4/23/2016 | Clippers | Blazers | Loss | Blazers 96, Clippers 88 | 26 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 5/14/2015 | Clippers | Rockets | Loss | Rockets 119, Clippers 107 | 31 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
| 4/28/2015 | Clippers | Spurs | Loss | Spurs 111, Clippers 107 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| 5/9/2014 | Clippers | Thunder | Loss | Thunder 118, Clippers 112 | 21 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 4/20/2013 | Clippers | Grizzlies | Win | Clippers 112, Grizzlies 91 | 23 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 5/15/2012 | Clippers | Spurs | Loss | Spurs 108, Clippers 92 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| 5/9/2012 | Clippers | Grizzlies | Loss | Grizzlies 92, Clippers 80 | 19 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| 4/27/2009 | Hornets | Nuggets | Loss | Nuggets 121, Hornets 63 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 5/19/2008 | Hornets | Spurs | Loss | Spurs 91, Hornets 82 | 18 | 14 | 8 | 5 | 6 (FO) |
| 4/29/2008 | Hornets | Mavericks | Win | Hornets 99, Mavericks 94 | 24 | 15 | 11 | 2 | 2 |
| Totals | 3-17 | 19.2 | 8.8 | 4.9 | 2.1 | 2.8 | |||
| Career Playoffs | 73-71 | 20.3 | 8.3 | 4.9 | 1.9 | 3 |
Reason behind Scott Foster hating Chris Paul
While using the word “hate” is quite a harsh way of putting things, the records between Foster and Paul certainly seem to back up the claim in some way. The stats above seem pretty normal but, it is mainly the lopsided results record, which brings up the question. In particular, the fact that the results of 10 games were decided by single digits brings in more suspicion of foul play. Moreover, Paul’s fouls record between 2016-2018 shows an abnormal rise.
Foster hasn’t spoken out about Paul, however, Paul has gone out of his way to talk about his issues with Foster several times. And although there may be no definitive reason behind Foster hating on Paul, the team results certainly show a different result.