Game 2 of the Western Conference finals saw an early delay after a play ended in a bloody nose for veteran official Scott Foster. The injury occurred when Foster presided over a tip-off between Oklahoma City Thunder guard Lu Dort and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle. Randle got the ball, while Dort whiffed and inadvertently struck Foster in the face with his hand. His foot also appeared to connect with Foster's midsection. The game was paused for a couple minutes as Foster received medical attention before returning to the game with an absorption device in his nose to stop the bleeding. Scott Foster gets kicked and hit in the face. 😬(h/t@LeagueAlerts)pic.twitter.com/d5L8pfk1Ux — Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral)May 23, 2025 Officials,including Foster, have taken on-court punishment before — it's the price of overseeing a sport where giants are running and jumping against each other at full-speed for 48 minutes — but where Foster's injury gets curious is who was in the building. The animosity between Foster and veteran point guard Chris Paul is legendary. Paul famously holds a 3-17 record in playoff games officiated by Foster andhas openly complained about the man to reporters. The easy joke about Foster's injury Thursday was "Chris Paul is smiling somewhere," but Paul was actually at the Paycom Center,as part of the MVP presentation for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. That's quite a coincidence.
