Los Angeles— “I’ll take the fine” • Clippers down Raps 108-100

Another game, another question about officiating. Fred VanVleet did not hold back his disgust for official Ben Taylor last night. He went as far as saying “it’s become personal” on Taylor’s part.

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

He is of course referring to the previous game versus the Denver Nuggets that saw Scottie Barnes ejected late and some very questionable calls by referee Scott Foster,  who himself is no stranger to controversy.

The Raptors were called for 23 fouls to the Clippers’ 18, but L.A. had 31 free throw attempts compared with 14 for Toronto. VanVleet was hit with a technical foul with 7:02 remaining in the third quarter. This call according to VanVleet changed the momentum of the game but also admitted it was not the reason for the loss.

The reasons, part one, as most nights when the Raptors lose was bad shooting. A terrible 38.5% from the field, lead by VanVleet’s 4 -12 and Gary Trent’s 2-11. Part two comes on the other side of the ball. The team from the six once again allowed over 50% shooting from an opponent.

Fluent Finale: The fallout from Fred VanVleet’s rant will be felt by all. The obvious fine is coming for the comments and language used towards Ben Taylor. A possible suspension may also follow. Lastly and maybe worst of all, referees are a fraternity and this will be seen in the calls the Raptors get or don’t get moving forward. Referees should not be dictating the outcomes of games, but often times they do.

Now you’re more fluent!