List of Refs for Heat vs Nuggets Game 1 Tonight (Marc Davis Leads Veteran Crew Inside Ball Arena)

Thursday's NBA Playoffs slate features Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets. With the Larry O'Brien Trophy up for grabs, fans from both sides are hoping for a fairly officiated game tonight.

Here's everything you need to know about the refs for Game 1 of Heat-Nuggets.

Heat vs Nuggets Game 1 Referees

The three officials assigned to work Thursday's matchup between the Heat and Nuggets are Marc Davis (#8, crew chief), David Guthrie (#16, referee), and Ed Malloy (#14, umpire). Tyler Ford (#39) will be the emergency alternate in case a last-minute replacement is needed.

James Williams, meanwhile, will be in the Secaucus-based Replay Center for tonight's playoff game.

Looking at Davis' postseason track record, he doesn't tend to favor one team over the other. The home team is 6-7 in his 13 playoff games as a crew chief and his foul calls are almost identical for both sides. The average point total for those games is 224.5, which is slightly higher than the projected total of 219 points for tonight's game on FanDuel Sportsbook's NBA odds.

Here's a breakdown of the betting stats from games Davis has officiated this season

Guthrie and Malloy bring some postseason experience to the table as well with each man having reffed at least seven games in the 2022-23 playoffs. The home team has emerged victorious in eight of Guthrie's 12 contests, while Malloy's seven games alone have seen an average of 228.3 points.

Accordingly, we could see a high-scoring Nuggets win tonight based on the NBA officiating crew.

NBA Playoffs Refs

A total of 12 referees have been selected to work the NBA Finals. This group is headlined by veterans Scott Foster (16th Finals), Tony Brothers (12th Finals) and the aforementioned Marc Davis (12th Finals). There are also two alternates available if needed. They are Tyler Ford and Ben Taylor.

Check out the full list of referees working the NBA Finals between the Heat and Nuggets below:

• Scott Foster
• Tony Brothers
• Marc Davis
• Zach Zarba
• Ed Malloy
• John Goble
• David Guthrie
• Bill Kennedy
• Josh Tiven
• James Williams
• Courtney Kirkland
• Kevin Scott

Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel. 

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