The Knicks provide information on the good and bad of officiating, early whistles and trends in New York.
Adding a new wrinkle to their game notes for the media, the Knicks included a “officiating breakdown” of their staff for Saturday’s Game 1 against the 76ers.
This sheet was compiled by our analytics staff and includes, among other things, the total foul call rate compared to the referee’s total foul call rate against the Knicks.
For example, Scott Foster’s numbers lived up to his reputation as a stickler.
Foster, the crew chief for Saturday’s game, gave the team a “very high” rating overall for foul calls, personal fouls, fouls in restricted areas, offensive fouls and dribbling violations.
He was in the 99th percentile in foul calls.
However, Foster rated the fall rate as “low.” This is proof that you were whistling correctly, even if very often.
Over the past five years, Foster has called more fouls per game (15.6) than he did against the Knicks (14.9).
It was the opposite for other referees in Saturday’s game.
Brian Forte, who has an “average” number of foul calls, was whistled for fewer fouls with the Knicks than he averaged per game over the past five years.
The Knicks recently had issues with Foster over his ejection of Josh Hart in early April.
He fired Hart in the first quarter for kicking a Bulls player in the face after he got naked, but there were conflicting accounts as to whether Foster determined the contact was intentional.
“I don’t think we even had time to make the decision (to kick Chicago’s Javonte Green in the air)… So I thought that was ridiculous,” Hart said.
Foster told a pool reporter that “the intention was not the standard” to issue Flagrant 2 to Hart.
It’s been a tough year for NBA referees.
The Knicks were embroiled in two controversies.
In the final minute of the loss to the Rockets, Jalen Brunson was whistled for a flagrant and fake foul, and the team lost the game.
The Knicks then benefited from the referee swallowing the whistle after Donte DiVincenzo tackled Detroit’s Orser Thompson late in the game.
In both cases, the referee admitted that there was an error in the two-minute report.
