The Phoenix Suns won an impressive fifth game in a row on Wednesday night, outlasting the Golden State Warriors in a frantic and at times wildly entertaining affair. The final score reading 123-115 to the Suns, but that fails to tell the story of this absorbing contest.
The Suns somehow gave up 40 points in the fourth-quarter alone, most of which came against the Warriors’ second unit, but did just enough to hang on to beat the Warriors for the second time this season. Center Jusuf Nurkic got himself in foul trouble throughout, and played only 17 minutes as a result. Way down on the 27.5 he’s put up so far this season.
Paul was given two technical fouls for what referee Scott Foster would later deem unsportsmanlike conduct, the latest chapter in a well-documented history between the two. Paul was coy in how he spoke to the media about it after the game, refusing to go into too much detail on his relationship with Foster.
Kevin Durant – who himself was given a technical in the fourth-quarter for throwing the ball against the stanchion – sensed that the conversation between player and referee was more than the usual dialogue that happens over the course of a game, no matter how heated or intense the occasion actually is.
Suns fans will be thankful that, after a rough start to the season, this was another key moment in a game that ultimately went their way. They’ve had some good fortune with referees recently, but on a broader scale, that doesn’t feel like the point. On another night – perhaps even a more important one in the postseason – this could have been the Suns on the end of this call.
Hard as it can be to separate the personal feelings towards somebody from the game you are trying to officiate fairly, the fact that even the Suns players acknowledged so openly that Paul’s previous run-ins with Foster contributed to the ejection is worrying. When asked about it, Josh Okogie, a teammate of Paul’s last season, did not mince his words.
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