VanVleet received a technical foul -- his eighth of the season -- from NBA ref Ben Taylor with 7:02 remaining in the third quarter against the Clippers ... and the point guard was clearly pissed about the tech when speaking with reporters in his postgame news conference.

"I don't mind, I'll take a fine, I don't really care," VanVleet said. "I thought Ben Taylor was f***ing terrible tonight. I think that on most nights, you know out of the three [officials], there's one or two that just f*** the game up. It's been like that a couple of games in a row."

He continued ... "[Losing to] Denver was tough, obviously. You come out tonight, competing pretty hard, and I get a bulls*** tech that changes the whole dynamic of the game, changed the whole flow of the game."

"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 got the other ones who just want to be d***s and just kind of f*** the game up. And nobody's coming to see that s***. They come to see the players."

FVV said the reason the Raptors lost, 108-100, to the Clippers is that they got outplayed ... but he did say dealing with officials who appear to have beef with him makes it an uphill battle for his team.

"I think we're losing a little bit of the fabric of what the NBA is and was," VanVleet said. "It's been disappointing this season. You could look up most of my techs this year have been with Ben Taylor officiating. At a certain point, as a player, you feel it's personal."

"That's never a good place to be."