As expected, Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic has been fined $25K by the NBA for blasting the officiating following Tuesday’s one-point loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles, the league announced (via Twitter).
Toronto carried a narrow lead into the fourth quarter, but the Lakers eked out a win after going 19-of-23 from the foul line and scoring 44 points in the final frame. The Raptors were awarded two free throws during the game’s final 12 minutes.
“That’s outrageous. What happened tonight, this is completely B.S.,” Rajakovic said (Twitter video link via Dime). “This is shame. Shame for the referees. Shame for the league to allow this. Twenty-three free throws for them, and we get two free throws in the fourth quarter? Like, how to play the game? I understand respect for All-Stars and all that, but we have star players on our team as well.
“How (is it) possible that Scottie Barnes, who is (an) All-Star-caliber player in this league, he goes every single time to the rim with force and trying to get to the rim without flopping and not trying to get foul calls, he gets two free throws for a whole game? How is that possible? How are you going to explain that to me?
“They had to win tonight? If that’s the case, just let us know, so we don’t show up for the game. Just give them a win. But that was not fair tonight. And this is not happening (for the) first time for us. Scottie Barnes is going to be (an) All-Star. He’s going to be the face of this league, and what’s happening over here during (the) whole season … it’s complete crap.”
Tuesday’s officiating crew was led by Ben Taylor, who was also on the receiving end of a postgame media rant from a member of the Raptors last season, when Fred VanVleet called his performance “f------ terrible” and pointed out that most of his technical fouls were called in games refereed by Taylor. VanVleet was docked $30K for those comments, notes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (via Twitter), so Rajakovic’s fine comes in a little lower than that.
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