Los Angeles — toronto raptors point guard Fred VanVleet Criticized referee Ben Taylor for his officiating during the Raptors’ 108–100 loss. LA Clippers on Wednesday night at the Crypto.com Arena.
VanVleet did not retract his postgame news conference and is likely to receive a hefty fine from the NBA.
“I don’t mind, I’ll take the fine, I don’t really care,” VanVleet said. “I thought Ben Taylor was terrible tonight. I think most nights, you know all three [officials], there are one or two who finish the game. This has happened in two consecutive matches.
,[Losing on Monday at] Denver was tough, obviously. You come out tonight, compete very hard, and I get a bull — technique that changes the whole dynamic of the game, changes the whole flow of the game.
“Most referees are trying hard. I like a lot of referees, they’re working hard, they’re very fair and communicate well. And then you’ve got other guys who just want to be d—s.” And just kind of f— game up. And nobody’s coming to see the f—. They come to see the players.
The Raptors were called for 23 fouls compared to the Clippers’ 18, but LA had 31 free throw attempts compared to Toronto’s 14. VanVleet was whistled for a technical foul by Taylor with 7:02 remaining in the third quarter. The Clippers were up seven at that time.
While Toronto got within 70–68 later in the quarter, the Clippers pushed the lead back to 12 shortly before the start of the fourth.
The third quarter technical was VanVleet’s eighth of the season.
The Raptors have played two straight games with technical fouls in the second half. During their 118-113 loss to Denver on Monday, official Scott Foster called Scotty Barnes for a technical foul before he was ejected with 28 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The Nuggets were leading by one at that time.
Foster said in the postgame pool report that Barnes was ejected on a technicality because “he used verbiage that directly called into question the integrity of the crew.”
Three of VanVleet’s eight technicals came from Taylor, with one coming from another official in the game Taylor was working. VanVleet said that “at a certain point as a player, you realize it’s personal and it’s never a good place to be.”
He was asked if whatever he said on Wednesday night got him to tech.
“There have been a few occasions this year where I think our team is being consumed by the way the whistles are blowing,” VanVleet said. “Especially after the night we had in Denver ended the way it did, so there were some calls at first that we all disagreed with. And if I say to my team, ‘Come on guys, let’s keep playing [through] bull—-‘ and that warrants a technique, I think it’s a little crazy. like what are we doing? know what I mean?
“And there’s obviously a fine line, I understand that. But I think the jurisdiction and power travel is getting out of hand with some of our officials in this league this year and I’ll take my fine for that.” Speaking on it, but it’s ridiculous.”