Chris Paul calls out ref after tech: 'You the man. That's who they pay to see'

Chris Paul probably won't be rocking a Scott Foster replica uniform any time soon. The Rockets' point guard suggested the longtime NBA referee was making the game about himself after tagging Paul with what he perceived to be a weak technical foul.

"I got a tech tonight. I'm over there with (referee Courtney Kirkland) saying 'That's Scott, that's Scott' - and I get a tech. But that's history there," Paul said of his relationship with Foster after the Rockets' 121-112 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. "So Scott: You the man. That's who (the fans) pay to see."

Foster's relationship with players has been a point of contention. In an anonymous L.A. Times survey, players voted Foster the league's worst referee. "You can't talk to him," one player said of Foster. "He's never wrong."

"He loves to stick it to teams," the unnamed player concluded.

For his part, Paul ended on a (somewhat) more optimistic note.

"We're going to figure it out," Paul added, referring to the bubbling tension between players and officials of late. "There's got to be a way where we can have a dialog or something. I don't know. Good old Scott Foster, though."

Paul, the President of the National Basketball Players Association, will have an opportunity to hash out his differences with the officials next month in Los Angeles. During February's All-Star weekend festivities, three players and three officials will meet in an attempt to better understand each other's positions in hopes of mellowing the occasionally contentious working relationship.