The Toronto Raptors suffered a tough loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night, and after the game, Fred VanVleet shocked the NBA world when he absolutely blasted referee Ben Taylor for his poor officiating. VanVleet is obviously going to get fined for his comments, but he didn't seem to have a care in the world.
NBA players typically avoid speaking bad on referees in order to avoid fines, but this seemed different for VanVleet, who believes that he's receiving unfair treatment from Taylor in games that he referees. And after a quick look at the games in which Taylor has been the referee while VanVleet was on the court, it looks like the star Raptors guard may be onto something here.
I looked it up.
This season, Ben Taylor has officiated in 6 games that Fred VanVleet has played in. VanVleet has received a tech in 4 of those games, including 2 on Nov. 30th.
Taylor has directly called him for a tech in 3 of the 6 games. https://t.co/FVMNApWFl8
— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) March 9, 2023
This is a pretty interesting development that obviously helps explain why VanVleet was so fed up with Taylor after he picked up yet another technical foul in this game. Obviously we don't have numbers to compare this to when it comes to referees calling fouls on specific players, but it's hard to ignore Taylor's quick whistle when it comes to calling fouls on VanVleet.
Fred VanVleet will obviously be fined for his comments, but it will be interesting to see if the NBA does anything regarding this dispute between him and Taylor. We have seen players continually get frustrated with the officiating this season, so will these comments from VanVleet prompt the NBA to take action? It will be worth keeping an eye on, as this is a rather unprecedented situation that VanVleet and Taylor find themselves in currently.
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