NBA sends whistle-happy officiating crew to Warriors-Kings Game 3
The referee with the most fouls called per game this regular season is the crew chief on Thursday night.
The referees have already made their presence known during the first round series between the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings.
Now, as the series shifts to San Francisco and the Warriors desperately need to climb out of their 2-0 hole, they may make yet another big impact on Thursday night.
The NBA announced its three-person crew early Thursday morning for the pivotal Game 3, with Eric Lewis, Kevin Scott and Sean Corbin calling the game.
For a Warriors team that will be without Draymond Green, who is serving a one-game suspension for stomping on Sacramento’s Damontas Sabonis, this crew brings three referees who rank at or near the top of the league in fouls called per game officiated.
Lewis, the crew chief, had the most fouls called per game of any full-time official this season, with 42.9 fouls per game in his 63 regular season games. Lewis was third overall out of the 76 referees who worked any games this year, but the two ahead of him only worked six games each.
Both Corbin and Scott aren’t far behind, with Corbin’s 53 regular season games averaging 41.3 fouls called per contest (10th-most out of all referees this year) and Scott averaging 40.5 (which ranks 28th-most).
The series has seen the referees heavily involved in the action through the first two games, whistling 48 fouls in Saturday’s Game 1 and 51 fouls in Game 2 on Monday.
Perhaps no moment has felt the referees impact more than the entanglement between Green and Sabonis in the fourth quarter on Monday, which was ruled a technical foul on Sabonis for grabbing Green’s ankle and a Flagrant 2 foul on Green for his stomp. The NBA then added to Green’s ejection from Game 2 with a suspension from Game 3, too — leaving the Warriors, coach Steve Kerr and NBA analysts shocked at the decision.
Now, with Green out, it will be imperative for Kevon Looney to stay out of foul trouble and not let Sabonis goad fouls from of the Warriors’ lone rotation big man.
Each of Thursday’s referees has already worked a playoff game this year, too. Corbin worked Knicks-Cavaliers Game 1, Scott worked Clippers-Suns Game 1 and Lewis was on the call for both Lakers-Grizzlies Game 1 and Clippers-Suns Game 2.
Lewis was also one of the 12 referees who worked last year’s NBA Finals. In his fourth NBA Finals assignment, he was on the whistle for Game 4.