Who is Ben Taylor? NBA referee had a history with the Raptors before Darko Rajakovic’s rant

The numbers — 23 Los Angeles Lakers free throws to two for the Raptors in the fourth quarter, 36 13 overall — speak for themselves. coach Darko Rajakovic added plenty of his own words, too. Rajakovic unleashed an over the officiating led by NBA referee Ben Taylor, who was the three person crew chief in According to the Star's Doug Smith who was in Los Angeles for the game, the crew consisted of Tyler Ricks, who called 10 fouls in the game including the RJ Barrett illegal screen call that negated a Scottie Barnes game tying three pointer with less than 30 seconds left.

Embarrassing call. Lakers were literally handed a victory by lopsided officiating. Kevin Cutler called seven fouls and Taylor called nine, including three “take” or intentional fouls the Raptors committed to extend the game in the last 30 seconds. Last March, Taylor was targeted by then Raptor Fred VanVleet.

During a mid week game in Los Angeles — sound familiar? — VanVleet was called for a technical foul in the third quarter of an eventual . After the game, VanVleet on Taylor, who is now in his 11th year as an NBA official. “Ben Taylor was f terrible tonight,” VanVleet said calmly. “A lot of the refs are trying hard.

They’re pretty fair, they communicate well. And then you got the other ones who just want to be d s. And it just kind of f s the game up.” Of the eight technical fouls VanVleet had taken to that point last year, three had been assessed by Taylor, . “We’re losing a little bit of the fabric of what the NBA is and was,” VanVleet said.

“At a certain point as a player, you feel it’s personal.” VanVleet was, predictably, fined. Already facing a $3,000 (U.S.) charge for his technical foul, the league added $30,000 to that for his public criticism of officials. Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart backed up VanVleet the next day. “I don’t know if you guys (have) seen Fred VanVleet’s interview,” Smart said, in a report from .

“That’s all I’m going to say. That lets you know I’m not speaking out of my butt. I’m gonna let Fred do all the talking.” In the weeks that followed, NBA reporter Tom Haberstroh tracked Taylor's assignments. Taylor had been crew chief in 41 of 52 assignments prior to the clash with VanVleet.

In five games after, he was crew chief only once. “I don’t know if that’s intentional or whether that’s just luck of the draw,” Haberstroh . “But certainly the NBA has taken a different tact when it comes to Ben Taylor’s assignments.” The National Basketball Referees Association “categorically false” in a post to X.

“The schedule for the games referenced was released weeks in advance,” the association wrote. “His positional assignments remained unchanged.” The fallout from Rajakovic’s rant remains to be seen. If it’s anything like the league’s response to VanVleet’s comments, the fine will be steep..