Very cheap game!

[ACE_reppin_ATL]

LET ME START BY SAYING....

The Hawks were CLEARLY unprepared and play very sloppy throughout this game after starting the 1st 2-3 mins. with a pretty decent flow. Then they had a ton of turnovers, a lot that were even unforced. Let me also say that LAL made shots (some even looked very lucky), they also had great chemistry, and looked fairly sharp all around, but DEFINITELY not as good as the score indicated! The score indicated how the game went not how much better the Lakers were than the Hawks.

Now, that aside....I am going to say that I am so pissed with the ridiculous officiating from last night's game. The "hand-picked looking" referees called nearly every a foul nearly every time the Hawks got close to a LAL player, especially in the 1st QTR and on the flip side the LAL were allowed to slap, grab, and bump the Hawks around forcing EVEN more turnovers.

The refs SIMPLY allowed LAL to play physical DEF and called fouls every time the Hawks played physical. That allowed LAL to play aggressive and disengaged the focus of the new-look Hawks very early and it pissed me off. Because that handicapped the game early, then they cleaned up some calls when the score was outta reach. That's BS! Like the Hawks don't have fans watching.

The same thing happened early in the PHX game @ PHX and the DAL game @ DAL. Those teams played very well but the 1st QTRS set the tone early and those tones were set by the poor, one-sided officiating. I know the Hawks are very young and their jobs are to fight through it. But I play basketball as competitively as possible myself, I know what it does to a team when you're officiated AGAINST! It makes the whole game of BBall (that YOU KNOW) a whole lot harder and makes you feel like you're in a corner and you tighten up to the point where no one on the team can play well.

BOTTOM LINE: It was just one game - the first with us finding a groove with Bibby and we have another one already tonight. I'm JUST sick of watching any games like that - Hawks or not. Because it takes out the competition and dictates the outcome! THAT"S NOT SPORT, THAT'S HOLLYWOOD!

[ACE_reppin_ATL]

ANYONE else feel like that?

[HoopsGuru25]

The calls in the games vs the Lakers were awful both times we played but I don't think the refs had anything to do with the Hawks losing. The biggest reason we lost was because of turnovers and Smith/Horford getting owned by Odom/Gasol inside. I am a big fan of an uptempo offense but some of the outlet passes/inbound passes that Josh Smith and Al Horford made were atrocious. Bibby and Joe also numerous unforced ball handling mistakes that probably won't happen again. I don't think I've ever seen one team get 19 turnovers(which is pretty bad for an entire game) in one half. I just wrote this game off as the Hawks clearly were not prepared to play(whether that be AS break hangover,a new pg,a coincidence,or whatever). It also didn't help that we were playing against a team that's probably elite. I'm just going to look at it as an adjustment game(I already marked it down as an L before hand) unless the Hawks play another terrible game tonight.

[Rip2137]

Like I said in the game thread. The Hawks were down 41 at the break. If the refs had called the game fairly they would have been down 25.

Either way, they were going to take a beating, but the officiating was horrid.

But I don't think its a big deal. every team takes a "are you kidding me" lost during a year. At the end of the day, its only one loss.

I do have issue with Woody still having starters out there in the 4th quarter in a 28 point game on the front end of a back to back. But hey.

[evildallas]

Yes. I was frustrating watching the game because of the officiating, even angered. I don't think it was blown calls as much as a distinct double standard by the officials. The back to back sequences with Kobe and Joe hand-checking each other and body up 30 feet from the basket were the officiating in a microcosm. It wasn't just Kobe though, all the Lakers got cart blanche for slapping wildly at the ball and making as much contact as necessary on D. On the other end the Hawks were called tightly for any contact. If I'm Woodson I probably lose my composure and get tossed in the first half. If I'm a player I probably start to really foul hard out of the frustration hoping to "get my money's worth".

I won't begin to use it as an excuse for losing the game. The Lakers didn't need help to kick the Hawks all over the floor. They are an excellent team that has to underperform for us to have a legitimate shot at an upset. They were on their game. Our first unit has to play at a high level to match them, which they didn't. And our second unit wasn't even ready to be on the court with them.

The referees didn't win the game for the Lakers, they just made winning the game easier. I don't know about those other games you mentioned. I don't remember noticing a double standard on contact, but my lack of remembering doesn't mean a lot. The thing is this is nothing new, preferential refereeing is just part of the NBA. Has been for years and sadly will be in the future.

[conleyorbust]

I'm hoping we don't get any of those, "the Hawks lost this one by playing poorly, don't blame it on the refs comments."

Its true, the Hawks lost it because they played poorly but ace is right, its really annoying to watch a game like that.

It also points out a trend of certain teams getting favorable treatment from referees. Basketball is a unique sport in that the refs have to make more judgement calls, and more split second calls, but reffing in the NBA is terrible compared to every other popular N American sport and even Euro soccer.

[Skyhawk1]

I find it very hard to blame the refs when your team loses by 30. This is not college where that happens everyday. We've seen that over and over with the Hawks though. You come out flat and sluggish, on the road, against ANY teams in the NBA, you'll pay a high price. I hope we learned that lesson. When those power houses from the Western condeference play us, that has to be a win game for them due to the tight race for playoff spots. No one is taking us for granted. They come out to play. I mean to play hard. I can't say the same thing about us.

[tbhawksfan]

The NBA sold out to the STAR mentality long ago. It' more of the same, fame and money = power = more fame and money = power..........etc....etc.......

[Rip2137]

I find it very hard to blame the refs when your team loses by 30. This is not college where that happens everyday. We've seen that over and over with the Hawks though. You come out flat and sluggish, on the road, against ANY teams in the NBA, you'll pay a high price. I hope we learned that lesson. When those power houses from the Western condeference play us, that has to be a win game for them due to the tight race for playoff spots. No one is taking us for granted. They come out to play. I mean to play hard. I can't say the same thing about us.

I don't think anyone is blaming the refs for the lost at all. But just because the Hawks were playing like crap doesn't mean that he refs called a balanced game. It was extremely unbalanced. But the Hawks still would have been blown out with way they played.

[evildallas]

^^^ I agree. If anything each of us in going out of our way to make it clear that the Hawks sucked period. I don't want the refs calling a horribly biased game to be buried in the fact the better team won.

[conleyorbust]

^^^ I agree. If anything each of us in going out of our way to make it clear that the Hawks sucked period. I don't want the refs calling a horribly biased game to be buried in the fact the better team won.

This thread has as much to do with the NBA as it does the Hawks. I don't enjoy watching any game thats horribly officiated. Tim Duncan and Steve Nash are two of my favorite players in the league and I will forever say that NBA officials ruined what could have been one of the greatest playoff series of all time by calling 2 terrible games (it was great as it was).