PHOENIX -- In September 2020, while embedded in the Orlando bubble, Chris Paul was preparing to play a Game 7 for the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Houston Rockets when a nemesis came to speak to him.
Referee Scott Foster reminded Paul that 12 years earlier, during Paul's first playoffs, when he was with the New Orleans Hornets, Foster had officiated their Game 7 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
Foster's context for making the comment is unknown. But Paul, in telling the story after the Thunder suffered a frustrating defeat, appeared to think Foster had played some sort of mind game.