The sequence unfolded with less than two minutes left in the first half, when Livingston, who started the game in Curry’s usual point-guard spot, drove to the basket for a layup. He felt that he was fouled on the play, but no whistle was blown. Then Livingston began jawing at Foster for the no-call, only to receive two quick technical fouls and the mandatory ejection.

A replay showed that Livingston had, indeed, been hit on the head while rising up toward the hoop, but the damage had been done. It was the first ejection of the normally mild-mannered player’s 11-year career, and many thought it was unjust.

The criticism of the ejection quickly turned toward noting that Foster appeared particularly energetic, if not gleeful, while signaling that he was throwing Livingston out of the game.

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Some were reminded that, in a recent Los Angeles Times poll of NBA players and coaches, Foster was rated the worst referee in the league. “We all knew we were going to get bad calls, and we did,” one anonymous player said of the official, in his 22nd year in the NBA, to the Times. “You couldn’t say anything to him. Hell, I don’t think you could even look at him.”

Others noted that Foster’s name came up in the scandal involving disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy, who admitted to working with gamblers on NBA games (Foster has denied any association with gambling). For his part, Donaghy said Monday, before the Warriors-Blazers game, that Foster would “get a little wild with the whistle.”