Thursday's NBA Playoffs slate features'Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals'between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets. In such a crucial contest, fans from both sides are hoping for a fairly officiated game tonight.
Here's everything you need to know about the refs for Game 2 of Lakers-Nuggets.
Lakers vs Nuggets Game 2 Referees
|
Referee |
Role |
Number |
|---|---|---|
|
Tony Brothers |
Crew Chief |
#25 |
|
David Guthrie |
Referee |
#16 |
|
Brian Forte |
Umpire |
#45 |
|
Pat Fraher |
Alternate |
#26 |
The three officials assigned to work Thursday's matchup between the Lakers and Nuggets are Tony Brothers (#25, crew chief), David Guthrie (#16, referee), and Brian Forte ( #45, umpire). Pat Fraher (#26) will be the emergency alternate in case a last-minute replacement is needed.
Ed Malloy, meanwhile, will be in the Secaucus-based Replay Center for today's playoff game.
Looking at Brothers' postseason track record, he doesn't tend to favor one team or the other by much. The home team is 4-5 in his nine playoff games as a crew chief and his foul calls are close to 50/50. The average point total for those games is 221.4, which is slightly lower than the projected total of 226.5 points for tonight's game on FanDuel Sportsbook's'NBA odds.
Here's a breakdown of the betting stats from games Brothers has officiate d this season
|
Betting Category |
Result |
|---|---|
|
Home Team Against the Spread |
36-33-5 |
|
Average Home Team Win Margin |
+3.5 |
|
Over/Under |
40-33 |
|
Average Total Score |
232.5 |
Guthrie and Forte bring some postseason experience to the table as well with each man having reffed at least six games in the 2022-23 playoffs. Guthri e tends to call an equal number of fouls on both teams while his 10 games have seen an average of just 215.7 points scored. Meanwhile, the home team has won five of the six games that Forte has been on the floor for this postseason.
Accordingly, we could see a lower-scoring Nuggets win tonight based on the officiating crew.
NBA Playoffs Refs
A total of 20 referees have been selected to work the NBA Conference Finals. This group is headlined by veterans Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, and the aforementioned Marc Davis.
There ar e also four alternates available if needed. They are Nick Buchert, Mitchell Ervin, Pat Fraher and Jacyn Goble.
Check out the full list of referees working the Conference Championship round of the'NBA Playoffs'below:
- Curtis Blair
- Tony Brothers
- Marc Davis
- Tyler Ford
- Brian Forte
- Scott Foster
- John Goble
- David Guthrie
- Bill Kennedy
- Courtney Kirkland
- Eric Lewis
- Mark Lindsay
- Tre Maddox
- Ed Malloy
- Rodney Mott
- Kevin Scott
- Ben Taylor
- Josh Tiven
- James Williams
- Zach Zarba