{"id":146151,"date":"2025-06-22T13:10:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T17:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=146151"},"modified":"2025-06-22T13:10:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T17:10:54","slug":"nba-makes-big-ref-announcement-for-game-7-of-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/22\/nba-makes-big-ref-announcement-for-game-7-of-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Makes Big Ref Announcement For Game 7 of Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY<\/strong> \u2013 NBA announced<\/a> Sunday that James Capers, Josh Tiven, and Sean Wright will officiate Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> and Indiana Pacers<\/a> are set to clash for the title at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. This marks the first Game 7 appearance in the Finals for each referee. With this ref appointment, they become the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th officials in league history to call a Finals Game 7.<\/p>\n

NBA Makes Big Ref Announcement For Game 7 of Finals<\/h2>\n

\u201cBeing selected to work the NBA Finals is the top honor as an NBA official,\u201d NBA president of league operations Byron Spruell said, as quoted by NBA.com<\/em>. A Game 7 assignment, therefore, stands as the pinnacle of recognition.<\/p>\n

A Surprising Omission<\/h3>\n
\"Scott
May 7, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Official Scott Foster runs down the court during the second quarter of game two of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs between the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many regard veteran referee Scott Foster as one of the league\u2019s most experienced and respected officials. The league left him off the crew. Foster has officiated 26 Finals games across 18 series. Many expected him to lead the Game 7 Ref crew.<\/p>\n

Had Foster been selected, he would have joined a select group of referees with three or more Finals Game 7s. That group includes officiating legends like Mendy Rudolph and Earl Strom.<\/p>\n

There was an outcry \u2014 particularly among Pacers supporters \u2014 about Foster\u2019s role in Game 4. However, Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle defended the veteran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s awful some of the things I\u2019ve seen about the officiating and Scott Foster in particular,\u201d Carlisle said, according<\/a> to the Athletic<\/em>. \u201cHe is a great official. He has done a great job in these playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Game 7 Referee History and Crew Details<\/h3>\n

Capers, who is calling his 13th Finals, officiated Indiana\u2019s Game 3 win. Wright and Tiven were part of the Game 4 crew in Oklahoma City\u2019s victory. All three refs are now stepping into the spotlight after the Game 7 assignment.<\/p>\n

James Williams will serve as the alternate referee. He worked Games 2 and 5, making him the most used referee in this Finals. The NBA will station David Guthrie, who officiated Games 1 and 6, in the replay center in Secaucus, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Coaching Perspectives on Officiating<\/h3>\n

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault addressed officiating concerns broadly ahead of Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe outcome of the game and the context of the game is outside of our control,\u201d Daigneault said, according<\/a> to NBA.com<\/em>. \u201cWe can\u2019t control how they call the game. We can control a lot of other things in the game, and that\u2019s what we need to focus on.\u201d His remarks suggest a focus on performance rather than whistle-related distractions.<\/p>\n

The Stakes and the Spotlight<\/h3>\n

As the Thunder and Pacers prepare for the ultimate contest, the league has taken care in choosing a referee trio that avoids further controversy. Foster\u2019s absence may signal the NBA\u2019s sensitivity to the growing social media scrutiny surrounding officials.<\/p>\n

Still, Capers, Tiven, and Wright now carry the pressure and privilege of deciding a championship. Their performance will be under the microscope, as every foul, whistle, and no-call will alter the course of NBA history.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 NBA announced Sunday that James Capers, Josh Tiven, and Sean Wright will officiate Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers are set to clash for the title at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. This marks the first Game 7 appearance in the Finals for each referee. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":146153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,11,3,22],"tags":[50160,49180,42743,1208,48988],"class_list":["post-146151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-pacers","category-news","category-thunder","tag-2025-nba-finals","tag-mark-daigneault","tag-referee","tag-rick-carlisle","tag-scott-foster"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146157,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146151\/revisions\/146157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}