Raptors Coach Rips Into NBA Referee: 'This is Completely BS'
Maybe you’ve heard, the Toronto Raptors aren’t fond of Ben Taylor.
It was just last year that Fred VanVleet ripped into Taylor after the now-infamous NBA referee ejected VanVleet from a game last March.
“I thought Ben Taylor was f***ing terrible tonight,” VanVleet said last season. “On most nights, out of the three [referees], there’s one or two that f*** the game up."
A year later, not much has changed.
Taylor and company were all over Toronto’s 132-131 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, slapping the Raptors with 26 personal fouls to Los Angeles’ three. In the fourth quarter alone, the Lakers took 23 free throws to Toronto’s two.
“That’s outrageous,” Rajaković told reporters post-game. “What happened tonight, this is completely BS. This is shame. Shame for the referees. Shame for the league to allow this. Twenty-three free throws for them and we get two free throws in the fourth quarter? Like, how to play the game?
“I understand respect for All-Stars and all that, but we have star players on our team as well. How is [it] possible that Scottie Barnes, who is an All-Star-caliber player in this league, he goes every single time to the rim with force and trying to get to the rim without flopping and not trying to get foul calls, he gets two free throws for a whole game?
“How is that possible? How are you going to explain that to me?”
In one three-possession span in the fourth quarter, every Lakers field goal attempt ended in a foul shot. That came seconds after Immanuel Quickley fouled out and was given a flagrant for what appeared to be inadvertent contact to Cam Reddish’s face while gathering for a shot.
In crunch time, Barnes’ game-tying three-pointer was nullified by an offensive foul called against RJ Barrett.
“They came to win tonight? If that’s the case, just let us know, so we don’t show up for the game,” Rajaković continued. “Just give them a win. But that was not fair tonight.
“And this is not happening [for the] first time for us. Scottie Barnes is going to be [an] All-Star. He’s going to be the face of this league and what’s happening over here during whole season … it’s complete crap.”
LeBron James, of course, felt differently about the calls.
“I felt like they fouled and we didn’t,” he told reporters after Rajaković’s tirade.
