“F**king terrible!” Fred VanVleet gives a HARSH verdict on officiating in the Raptors vs Clippers game

The Toronto Raptors suffered a narrow 8-point loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and Fred VanVleet was annoyed at the way the game was officiated. “I’ll take a fine. I don’t really care. I thought Ben Taylor was f**king terrible today. On most nights, out of the 3, there’s 1 or 2 that just f**k the game up,” said VanVleet in his post-game interview. One of the reasons for VanVleet’s outburst was the discrepancy in free throws on the night. The Clippers attempted 31 free throws in the game while the Raptors attempted just 14.

“Third quarter I get a bulls*it tech, changes the whole dynamic of the game, changes the whole flow of the game,” said VanVleet. The Raptors guard spoke about how the officiating has been bad for a few games now and does not believe the technical foul calls make any sense. VanVleet mentioned the Raptor’s previous game against the Denver Nuggets where referee Scott Foster handed a rather odd technical foul and ejection to Scottie Barnes.

“It’s been disappointing this season. You can look up that most of my techs this year have been with Ben Taylor officiating. At some point as a player you feel it’s personal,” said VanVleet to end his rant on referees. Fred VanVleet urges the NBA to fix the standard of officiating as he feels it is ruining the essence of the game. This sentiment is echoed by most players around the league as officiating is a hot topic of debate with frequent inconsistencies. If the referees truly take it personally, VanVleet might be up for an ejection the next time he plays with Ben Taylor officiating.

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Fred VanVleet and the Toronto Raptors are fighting hard for a playoff spot and shady officiating is not helping

The Toronto Raptors are currently the 9th seed in the Eastern Conference after losing three of their last four games. The Raptors were the #5 seed last year but are not able to replicate that success. Scottie Barnes has stagnated this season an impressive rookie year and Pascal Siakam seems to be the only consistent performer on their roster.

Fred VanVleet has said that despite the officiating being bad on occasions it is no excuse for the losses they have suffered. The Raptors have struggled to find consistent and efficient scoring throughout this season and have suffered because of that. The Raptors shot just 37% from 2-point range in their loss to the Clippers which is low.

Toronto is a city that had its peak in the mid-2010s and capped it off with a championship in 2019 but has been quite average ever since. If they do manage to stay in a play-in spot and make the playoffs as an 8-seed there is not much hope anyway. They would have to face the dominant Milwaukee Bucks who are currently the #1 seed and that series might well be a sweep. The Raptors need to find form at the right time or hope whistles start going in their favor to revive this season.

In case you missed it:

• “I let a lot of people down,” Greg Oden gets candid on how he used to lock himself up for two weeks straight because he felt ‘like a loser’

• When did Pau Gasol Retire?

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