Raptors’ Fred VanVleet calls NBA referee Ben Taylor ‘f****** terrible’ in explosive rant after loss

Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet has been angry with NBA referee Ben Taylor, calling his performance in Wednesday night’s loss to the LA Clippers “terrible.”

VanVleet raged after the game at both Taylor and the other NBA refereeing team for receiving a technical foul, and what he believed to be a disparity in fouls called.

I don’t mind. I’ll take the fine. I don’t really care,’ VanVleet began before launching into a composed, but swear-laden tirade.

“I thought Ben Taylor was fucking terrible tonight. I think most nights out of three there are one or two that fuck up the game. It’s been like that a couple of games in a row. Denver was tough, obviously.

“You came out tonight, racing pretty hard and I got some bull tech that changes the whole dynamic of the game, it changed the whole flow of the game.”

WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

VanVleet, who is in his sixth year in the league, was called for his eighth technique of the season with 7:02 remaining in the third quarter. Paul George made the free throw to put the Clippers up 65-57.

The 29-year-old said the reason he picked up the technique was because he was imploring his team to play what he thought were some questionable calls, albeit in more colorful language.

‘You can see most of my coaches this year have been with Ben Taylor officiating. At a certain point, as a player you feel like it’s personal.

‘It’s never a good place to be, that’s not why we lost tonight, we were outclassed. But it definitely makes it harder to beat.

‘Most refs try really hard, I like a lot of the refs, they try really hard, they’re pretty fair and they communicate well.

‘And then you have the others who just want to be bad and fuck up the game. And no one will come to see that shit. They come to see the players.

“I think we’re losing a little bit of the structure of what the NBA is and was, and it’s been disappointing this season.”

It’s been a bad week for Toronto when it comes to officiating. Forward Scottie Barnes was ejected on his first technical in Monday night’s loss to Denver after saying “you guys cheating, bro” before referee Scott Foster sent him to the locker room.