Referees: Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Tre Maddox
We have the evil duo of Foster and Brothers in this game. With Scott Foster as the lead ref, it's hard to tell what we will get in this one. At times he calls games one sided and is a tyrant with the whistle, calling every little thing and at other times he calls it evenly and lets them play. Tim Donaghy described Foster as a company man who will do what is asked of him to keep his seniority among refs. Foster was part of the 2010 Finals game 7 officiating crew that called the final quarter completely different than the first 3 quarters and very one sided for the Lakers with 21 free throws for the Lakers and 6 for the Celtics in the final 12 minutes. He was voted the worst referee in the league by the players and coaches in an LA Times article. The Celtics are 8-2 with Foster in their last 10 games and 3-0 in the playoffs so far with him calling the game. Miami is 5-5 in their last 10 and 1-0 with Foster in the playoffs. He was lead official for Game 7 vs the Raptors, which was one of the best officiated games of the playoffs. He is definitely an x-factor.
Tony Brothers brings angst to every team's fan base when they see him on the officiating team. He was voted the worst ref in the league by 24.5% of the players in their recent survey. With Brothers, you never know what you will get. Sometimes he calls everything on both teams. Sometimes he lets both teams play. And, sometimes he calls a game one sided for one of the teams. Basically, he is just bad. Hopefully we get the Tony Brothers that lets them play both ways in this game. Usually when fans of any team sees Brothers calling their games, they cringe. Both teams are 5-5 in their last 10 games with Brothers. He called Games 2 and 6 of the Toronto series. The third ref Tre Maddox hasn't been particularly good or bad in the past.