Reading today’s (Saturday) AJC in the notes from the Hawks Locker Room, two stories caught my attention. If you combine the two, it really says a lot about the crazy last few seconds of the Hawks game 6 Thursday night against Boston.
One article said that the NBA admitted game officials missed the call that would have given Atlanta a much better chance to tie or win the all important game while trailing by only 2 points with 3.1 seconds left. That turns out to have been a huge error. The Hawks were trying to inbound the ball and a foul occurred before the ball was thrown in. That should have given the Hawks one free throw and the ball back, but the officials said it happened after the ball was put in play (a ruling they now say was wrong. It was obvious to anyone watching the game that it was wrong). So instead of going to the free throw line and getting one point back, the Hawks had to put the ball back into play but from a slightly different angle.
That in-bound play lead to the second interesting story: The ball eventually got into Al Horford’s hands and he was fouled in the act of shooting (two shots). He missed the first free throw which really hurt because the Hawks were down by two. Now in the paper, Horford says he “erred in not trying to purposely miss the second attempt” (that would be the Hawks only chance by missing, and somehow getting the rebound and making a basket). What was he thinking? Again, it was obvious that was the only possible play with now just about one second to go.
All of this happened in a flurry at game-ending crunch time. It really was a lousy way for the season to end. It kind of made you feel sick.
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