Raptors have to put the controversies of their road trip behind them

LOS ANGELES—There is a large measure of subjectivity to what is and isn’t an NBA foul.

It’s because humans and their interpretations of rules are involved and what draws a whistle one night might go unnoticed the next. It might depend on the player, the official, the circumstances.

It has been that way forever. Players and coaches live with it while the league and its officials try their best to correct it.

They can’t. They won’t. And everyone just needs to deal with it.

“One night it could be one way with them, a week later it could be the other end of the spectrum,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said this week when the relationship between officials and his players grabbed the leaguewide spotlight. “There are so many variables that there is no one way to answer, ‘Well, what should you do?’

“What you should do, in the big picture of things — whether it’s shots not going in, whistles, loose balls not going your way, rebounds not going your way — you’ve got to try to find a way to play through it.”

It’s hard for players to put aside the frustration of the perception of mistreatment by officials. It’s been particularly hard for the Raptors for most of this jagged season because the odd missed call — or the feeling that calls are going against them — can exacerbate inconsistent play.

It’s just another thing they feel they’ve had to deal with, unfairly. And when the inevitable outbursts happen, as they did in Denver on Monday and against the Clippers on Wednesday, it’s one more gigantic hurdle to clear.

It would be wise to take it out of the equation but human nature is what human nature is.

“Our margin is small this year, sometimes you’ve got to find ways to overcome it and find ways to win,” said Fred VanVleet, the central figure in the Raptors vs. the Refs on Wednesday when he gave a scathing post-game indictment of the officiating,

“I don’t want this to become a distraction anymore than it already has,” he said. “We have our own business to worry about. We’ve got to play better. I got to play better. I’m always going to take responsibility for that. It is what it is at this point.”

This week may end up just being a blip and things will quickly return to normal.

Calls will be made that irk and mystify players and coaches, and there will be emotional outbursts. The Raptors will feel they are being mistreated at times — just like 29 other teams feel most night — and the games will go on. The Raptors won’t change what they do, nor will they relax their demand for consistency.

“We’re just trying to play hard, put ball pressure on, things like that. Not a lot of teams try to play as consistently hard on the ball as we do,” Nurse said. “Maybe it’s something (the officials) don’t see as much.

“I don’t mind fouling. I just want to foul when it’s appropriate. I want those fouls to be consequences at the rim, not 94-foot hand checks, 90-foot hand checks, over-the-back fouls when we didn’t have a chance to get a rebound, moving screens, those type of things. We believe in fouling, but the right kind of fouls.”

And the right kind of calls.

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