SUMMARY
- Ben Taylor was an official during the most recent controversial Lakers vs. Raptors game.
- Raptors head coach Dark Rajaković slammed the referees for handing over the game to the Lakers.
Recently, a referee named Ben Taylor has been receiving some backlash on social media following his latest appearance on the court. He was present at the Los Angeles Lakers vs Toronto Raptors game which took place at the Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. The game flared up a lot of controversy and had the Raptors’ head coach fuming during the post-game press conference. What’s worse is, this isn’t Taylor’s first being slammed for his poor officiating.
In March 2023, the Raptors played against the other LA organization, the Clippers. This game had Fred VanVleet heated as Taylor did a poor job at officiating. During the press conference, he said, “I don’t mind. I’ll take a fine. I don’t really care. I thought Ben Taylor was f**king terrible tonight.” He added that he wasn’t happy with the unnecessary technical foul that was called on him.
Fred VanVleet went OFF on referee Ben Taylor and NBA reffing in general in his post-game after the Raptors loss. Haven’t heard anything like this. pic.twitter.com/VcMkGTh0k3
— Faizal Khamisa (@FaizalKhamisa) March 9, 2023
He added, “Most of the refs are trying hard, I like a lot of the refs, they’re trying hard, they’re pretty fair, they communicate well. And then you have the other ones who just want to be dicks and it just kind of f**k the game up.” Ben Taylor, the lead referee that night rewarded VanVleet with a tech after he told his teammates to fight through the poor officiating.
Ben Taylor was demoted by the NBA following Fred VanVleet’s comments
Following these comments, the former Raptors guard and 2019 NBA Champion was slapped with a $30,000 fine. The league does not tolerate players criticizing the officials and their work. However, Ben Taylor was put under fire himself. The referee was demoted from his position as crew chief. And the league repositioned him as “referee 2” for the games that followed. Until then, Taylor was a crew chief for 41 games that season.
Ben Taylor was also part of the official crew that refereed the Lakers vs. Raptors game recently. However, this time VanVleet wasn’t the one criticizing him but head coach Darko Rajaković. He slammed the referees for rewarding the Lakers 23 free throw attempts during the fourth quarter while the Raptors only received two. Rajaković suggested that the game was rigged in favor of the Lakers.
Raptors HC Darko Rajakovic was heated in the postgame presser, unhappy with the Lakers 23 free throw attempts in the 4Q pic.twitter.com/1xvoXrUM6k
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 10, 2024
Taylor has been around the business for a little over a decade now. He has had a couple of controversial moments. Ben was a part of the crew that officiated LeBron James’ 61-point game against the Charlotte Bobcats (Hornets) in 2014. However, poor officiating is a problem many players and coaches have been complaining about.