Pacers' Rick Carlisle Makes Eye Opening Comments on Officials Ahead of NBA Finals Game 5 originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder found themselves deadlocked at two wins apiece heading into Monday night's 8:30 p.m. tip-off at the Paycom Center in OKC.

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle on Sunday decried the swell of public criticism of the officiating that flowed following the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Game 4 win in the 2025 NBA Finals, describing the carping on perceived mistaken calls and non-calls — specifically those involving longtime NBA referee Scott Foster — as,

Scott Foster may be the NBA's only active celebrity referee. The official's poor reputation with players—they voted him the league's worst referee in a 2023 poll taken by The Athletic—has won him a kind of cult notoriety.