‘I’ll Take a Fine!’ Raptors Star Calmly Unloads Both Barrels on ‘F**king Terrible’ NBA Officiating at Presser

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Toronto Raptors star guard Fred VanVleet blasted NBA officiating in a post-game press conference following his team’s loss on Wednesday night.

The Raptors were in Los Angeles to face the Clippers at the Crypto.com Arena, and in their 108-100 loss were called for 23 fouls, five more than the Clippers. VanVleet received a technical foul in the third quarter, his eighth of the season.

Raptors forward Scottie Barnes received a technical foul in Monday night’s loss to the Denver Nuggets. A clearly frustrated VanVleet used his Wednesday night presser to rip referee Ben Taylor for his performance in the contest.

“I don’t mind, I’ll take the fine; I don’t really care,” VanVleet said. “I thought Ben Taylor was fucking terrible tonight. I thought that on most nights, you know, out of three [officials], there’s one or two that just fuck the game up. It’s been like that a couple of games in a row.”

“Denver was tough, obviously. You come out tonight competing pretty hard, third quarter, I get a bull shit tech, changes the whole dynamic of the game, changed the whole flow of the game,” he said.

The Raptors star credited the officials he felt do their job reasonably.

“Most of the refs are trying hard. I like a lot of the refs; they’re trying hard, they’re pretty fair, and communicate well,” VanVleet said. “And then you got the other ones who just want to be dicks and just kind of fuck the game up. And no one’s coming to see that shit. They come to see the players.”

Of VanFleet’s eight technical fouls, three have been called by Taylor and a fourth one in a game that the referee’s colleague handed out.

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green was fined $25,000 in 2018 for harshly criticizing the officials. So the fine coming VanFleet’s way might be a hefty one.

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