Atlanta Hawks Fall to Charlotte Hornets in Double-OT Thriller

The Atlanta Hawks lost to the Charlotte Hornets tonight in double overtime, 122-119.  Lance Stephenson nailed a deep 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds left to send the Hawks home with a loss, but that’s just a small part of what went on in Charlotte on Friday night.

To put it lightly, the referees were awful. Sixty-three (63!!!!!) foul calls were made and none bigger than the offensive foul call on Kyle Korver on the in-bounds play with 2.5 seconds left.

Korver was setting a screen and Marvin Williams hit the screen and went immediately to the ground and the rookie ref bought it. That allowed the Lance to hit the game winner and send the Hawks to a 1-3 start. The Hawks almost lost this game in the first overtime, but a clutch 3-pointer by Mike Scott sent the game into the second overtime period, where the Hawks couldn’t quite overcome the Hornets and more than a few questionable calls.

Jeff Teague had a tremendous first four quarters, but ended up shooting just 9 for 23 and many of those misses came post-4th quarter as the Hawks were trying to ice the game.  The Hawks were also dominated in the paint, being outscored by 20 and being out rebounded by a 51-38 margin.

The main culprit (other than the refs) was Al Jeffereson. Jefferson dropped 34 points and had 9 rebounds in 41 minutes.  The Hawks were led by the big man Al Horford who had a double-double dropping 24 with 10 rebounds, and Kyle Korver who went 4/7 from beyond the arc.

When interviewed after the game, Coach Bud refused to light up the refs and simply mentioned that the league might want to take a look at whether or not Marvin took a “dive”(he did).  Coach Bud was visibly upset and did well to maintain his composure but he had every right to be upset.

There were bad calls for both sides and it’s obvious the young rookie ref wanted to make a big call in a big spot and he flat missed it.  The double OT loss hurts a little more than usual because it comes in on the front end of a back to back. The Hawks have less than 24 hours to get ready for the New York Knicks who visit the Highlight Factory Saturday evening.