List of Refs for Nuggets vs Lakers Game 3 Tonight (Officiating Crew Could Mean Trouble for Denver)

List of Refs for Nuggets vs Lakers Game 3 Tonight (Officiating Crew Could Mean Trouble for Denver)

Updated:

Saturday's NBA Playoffs slate features Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers. 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 3 of Nuggets-Lakers.

Lakers vs Nuggets Game 3 Referees

Referee

Role

Number

Scott Foster

Crew chief

#48

Bill Kennedy

Referee

#55

Mark Lindsay

Umpire

#29

Mitchell Ervin

Alternate

#27

The three officials assigned to work Saturday's matchup between the Nuggets and Lakers are Scott Foster (#48, crew chief), Bill Kennedy (#55, referee), and Mark Lindsay (#29, umpire). Mitchell Ervin (#27) will be the emergency alternate in case a last-minute replacement is needed.

Zach Zarba, meanwhile, will be in the Secaucus-based Replay Center for today's playoff game.

Looking at Foster's postseason track record, he tends to favor one side significantly over the other. The home team is 8-3 in his 11 playoff games as a crew chief and he calls an average of 2.6 more fouls per game on the visitors. The average point total for those games is 216.9, which is noticeably lower than the projected total of 222.5 points for tonight's game on FanDuel Sportsbook's NBA odds.

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

Betting Category

Result

Home Team Against the Spread

44-26

Average Home Team Win Margin

+5.1

Over/Under

43-27

Average Total Score

229.2

Kennedy and Lindsay bring some postseason experience to the table as well with each man having reffed at least seven games in the 2022-23 playoffs. Kennedy tends to call an equal number of fouls on both teams while his nine games have seen an average of just 219 points scored. Meanwhile, the home team has won five of the seven games that Forte has been on the floor for this postseason.

Accordingly, we could see a average-scoring Lakers 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 are 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

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. 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.