The Knicks are giving out the intel on the referees — the good, the bad, the quick whistles and their tendencies with New York.
In a new wrinkle to the game notes for the media, the Knicks included a “referee breakdown” of the crew for Saturday’s Game 1 against the 76ers.
The sheet is compiled by the analytics staff and includes, among other things, the official’s rate of total foul calls compared to his/her rate of calls against the Knicks.
The numbers on Scott Foster, for instance, lived up to his reputation as a stickler.
Foster, the crew chief for Saturday’s game, rated “very high” overall in the following categories — foul calls, personal fouls, fouls in the restricted area, offensive fouls and dribbling violations.
He was 99th percentile in foul calls.
However, Foster rated “low” in his overturn rate — a sign he’d been whistling correctly, even if very frequently.
Over the last five years, Foster had called more fouls against the Knicks per game (15.6) than his average (14.9).
It was the opposite for the other referees in Saturday’s game.
Brian Forte, who “average” for number of foul calls, whistled the Knicks for fewer fouls than his average per game over the last five years.
The Knicks had a recent issue with Foster over his ejection of Josh Hart in early April.
He booted Hart in the first quarter for kicking a Bulls player in the face after getting stripped, although there were conflicting accounts on whether Foster determined the contact was intentional.
“I don’t think I even had time to make that decision (to kick Chicago’s Javonte Green) in midair… .So I thought it was ridiculous,” Hart said.
Foster told a pool reporter that “intent was not a criteria” for issuing Hart a Flagrant 2.
It’s been a rough year for the NBA referees.
The Knicks were involved in two controversies.
They lost a game after a blown call on Jalen Brunson, who was whistled for a crucial and bogus foul in the final seconds of a loss to the Rockets.
Later, the Knicks benefitted from a referee swallowing his whistle after Donte DiVincenzo’s tackle on Detroit’s Ausar Thompson down the stretch.
In both instances, the referees acknowledged a mistake in their two-minute reports.
