Fred VanVleet is far from amused about how Wednesday night's game against the Los Angeles Clippers was officiated. The Toronto Raptors guard did not hold back when he spoke about “some refs” after their 108-100 road loss to Kawhi Leonard and company.
“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, Fred VanVleet said, via Erik Koreen of The Athletic. “And then you got the other ones who just want to be dicks and just kind of f— up the game.”
VanVleet specifically targeted referee Ben Taylor in his postgame tirade:
“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. it's been like that a couple games in a row…”
It's understandable why such a loss would leave Fred VanVleet and the Raptors feeling frustrated. For one, they took 25 more shots from the field than Los Angeles. They knocked down 13 3-pointers on 32 attempts, while the Clippers went just 6-for-20 from behind the arc. They also had fewer turnovers than LA, 17-12. However, Toronto seemed to forget about defending the shaded area where the Raptors got repeatedly torched by the Clippers, who got to the basket a total of 36 times and went 23-for-28 on those attacks while drawing eight shooting fouls.
Fred VanVleet scored just 13 points on 12 attempts from the field while dishing out nine assists in 39 minutes. Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby each scored 20 points, but their production clearly wasn't enough to negate the success the Clippers were having on the other end of the court.
Blaming the refs is a tradition in the NBA as old as the league itself, and Fred VanVleet isn't the first one to express genuine disgust about how officials handled a game. Hopefully, VanVleet's diatrible will be a spark for Toronto.
The Raptors will look to snap a two-game losing skid on Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
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