Darko Rajakovic has laid into Tuesday night’s officiating in a bold press conference outburst

THE Los Angeles Lakers’ narrow victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday has left many fans furious.

LeBron James and co. came out on top by the narrowest of margins, 132-131, at the Crypto.com Arena to reach 19-19 on the season.

Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic branded the disparity in their free throws vs. the Los Angeles Lakers ‘complete BS’Credit: Getty

The Raptors finished with thirteen free throws to LA’s 36 during their 132-131 loss
However, the game’s enormous free throw disparity (Los Angeles’ 36 to Toronto’s thirteen) has drawn huge criticism from all corners of social media, as well as from Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic.

During his post-game press conference, Rajakovic let loose when asked about Los Angeles’ 23 fourth quarter free throws.

“That’s outrageous,” he said. “What happened tonight, this is completely BS. This is a 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 [can we] 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 tries to get to the rim without flopping and not trying to get foul calls, he gets two free throws in the 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.”

Rajakovic went on to claim that this was not the first time the Raptors have been unfairly treated this season, adding that he felt officials “see what they want to see.”

And it seems that fans on X, formerly known as Twitter, were equally baffled by the disparity.

One such fan tweeted, “Lol refs completely rigged the last 4 min for the Lakers. 11 free throws to 0 and then an offensive foul takes away the game tying 3.”

A second said, “Darko is 100% right, the refs rigged the game for the Lakers, the NBA needs to investigate ASAP.”

As a third added, “For those of you that aren’t paying attention or didn’t watch the Lakers game tonight… The league is rigged.

“At least the WWE admits it’s fake. This is far worse.”

Rajakovic and his 15-22 Raptors will return to action on Wednesday as they take on the LA Clippers back at the Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers will host the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.

Fans took to X in anger, with one tweeting: ‘The refs rigged the game for the Lakers’