Ben Taylor Will Officiate Raptors Game for 1st Time Since Fred VanVleet's Comments
Fred VanVleet and Ben Taylor are set to meet again Thursday night as the Toronto Raptors play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder at 7:30 p.m. ET.
It was just a week ago that VanVleet took to the post-game podium in Los Angeles to publicly criticize Taylor's officiating after the 10-year referee slapped VanVleet with his eighth technical foul of the season.
“I thought Ben Taylor was f***ing terrible tonight," VanVleet said following Toronto's loss to the Clippers. "On most nights, out of the 3, there’s 1 or 2 that f*** the game up.”
Taylor has called three of VanVleet's technical fouls this season and has been an official in five of the seven games in which VanVleet has received technical fouls. VanVleet's lone ejection this season came following a pair of technical fouls in a game in which Taylor was officiating.
"You can look it up, most of my techs this year have been with Ben Taylor officiating. At a certain point as a player, you feel it’s personal," VanVleet said last week.
Thursday will be the first Raptors game officiated by Taylor since VanVleet made his remarks. Taylor will be joined by Eric Lewis and Brandon Adair.
The Raptors are 24-14 in games officiated by Taylor dating back to 2011-12.
Further Reading
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