Do NBA referees carry out personal grudges by calling mean-spirited fouls?
When Raptors guard Fred VanVleet made headlines this past week with a post-game dress-down of the league’s officiating in the wake of Wednesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, he strongly suggested he believes they do. Issuing a stream of anti-referee venom that was as profane as it was calmly delivered, VanVleet singled out one referee in particular: 10-year veteran Ben Taylor.
VanVleet insisted Taylor had worked games in which he’d received the bulk of his eight technical fouls this season — five of eight, by one count.