Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic went off on league officials following his team’s Tuesday night loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“How’s [it] possible that Scottie Barnes, who is All-Star-caliber player in this league, he goes every single time to the rim with force and tried to get to the rim without flopping and not trying to get foul calls, he gets two free throws for the whole game. How’s that possible?” Rajakovic asked reporters during a postgame press conference.
“How you gonna explain that to me?” he continued. “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 first time for us. Scottie Barnes is gonna be an All-Star, he’s gonna be the face of this league, and what’s happening over here, during whole season, I’ve been calling it back. It’s complete crap.”
Raptors Coach Darko did not HOLD BACK ‼️😳
“Lakers 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 the win. That was not fair tonight.”
Lakers had 23 free throws in the 4th Quarter – 👀
— BallTalkSource (@BallTalkSource) January 10, 2024
Rajakovic also noted the absurd free throw disparity between the teams.
“Over the game they got 36 free throws, 23 free throws in the fourth quarter. What are we talking about?”
As Rajakovic noted, the Lakers got to the line to shoot 36 free throws and the Raptors only shot 13, according to the Associated Press. The gap widened significantly in crunchtime, with the Lakers taking 23 fourth quarter free throws compared to the Raptors two.
The Raptors were down 124-121 with 28 seconds remaining in the game when guard Scottie Barnes appeared to hit a clutch three pointer to tie it. That is, until the refs waived the bucket off, claiming forward RJ Barrett committed an offensive foul on Lakers forward Anthony Davis. (RELATED: Notorious Nut-Kicker Draymond Green Says He Cried To Head Coach Steve Kerr)
“We’re going to get flopping out of the game”
Anthony Davis with under a minute left and the Raptors about to tie it:
pic.twitter.com/4aGvdPpGeP— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) January 10, 2024
The Raptors would go on to lose the game 132-131.
Toronto has had problems with the officiating crews, led by Ben Taylor, before. In 2023, former Raptors guard Fred VanVleet was fined $30,000 for saying, “I don’t mind. I’ll take a fine. I don’t really care. I thought Ben Taylor was fucking terrible tonight.”
One has to imagine Rajakovic will face a similar fine.