The Toronto Raptors weren't too pleased with the manner with which they lost their Tuesday night contest against the Los Angeles Lakers. Head coach Darko Rajakovic did not hold back in his postgame presser, putting the referees on blast by giving the Lakers' All-Stars (mostly Anthony Davis on the night) preferential treatment during their 132-131 loss. But a closer look at the proceedings only serves to heighten the tension between the Raptors franchise and this one referee in particular who seems to have it out for them.

As one would recall, last year, former Raptors guard Fred VanVleet went scorched earth on Ben Taylor, the same official who was the crew chief during the Lakers' win over Toronto on Tuesday night. VanVleet even went as far as to say that Taylor was “f**king terrible”, and clearly, the raucous Raptors fanbase will be feeling the same sentiments towards the veteran official in the aftermath of what was a rough way to end the game.

VanVleet took the monetary hit to the chin with his rant towards Taylor because he had prior history with the official and he felt like he was being targeted. Last season, there was a trend in which Taylor called technical fouls on VanVleet on multiple occasions, even ejecting him once. Does the same hold for the Raptors, even though VanVleet is no longer with the team?

Raptors fans think that is the case. After all, nothing went right for them in terms of officiating during crunch time on Tuesday night. For starters, Immanuel Quickley's offensive foul was upgraded to a flagrant one. And then the Lakers went to the foul line a total of 23 times in the fourth quarter (15 of them unintentional from the Raptors' end), with Anthony Davis taking 11 on his own during the period. Meanwhile, Toronto had 13 free throws in total for the entire game.

Just to twist the knife even further, the three that would have tied the game for the Raptors at 124 was wiped off the board after RJ Barrett was called for a moving screen on Davis. If Ben Taylor wasn't involved, then one could just chalk it up to some questionable, if explainable officiating. But Taylor's involvement could lend credence to the idea that there might be something fishy going on.