In their first game back from the All-Star Break, the Atlanta Hawks hosted the Toronto Raptors and they were hoping to start the next part of the season on a high note.
It was just more of the same from the Hawks.
For a myriad of reasons, Atlanta lost 123-121 to the Raptors and it is their third straight loss. One of those reasons might have been the fact that they did not have their head coach for two and a half quarters.
At the 4:27 mark in the second quarter, Poeltl was not called for an obvious moving screen and Young went down in pain. Snyder was arguing with the ref over not calling anything and it resulted in Snyder being ejected.
After the game, Snyder met with the media and he gave an explanation as to why he argued the call the way he did and what got him angry:
"It was a foul. He turned his body and that is an automatic foul. That is the call and obviously my reaction, I normally don't react like that to any foul, but in that case, I saw Trae (Young) take a shot in the quad and I was concerned about his knee frankly, then he was on the ground and I was worried that he was hurt. So, I probably deserved the technical, that was the rationale, I don't know why the second came when it did, typically you get one like that and there is some level of understanding, my player is on the ground and could be hurt.
So, like I said, my reaction was certainly an emotional one and that was the reason why. You see it on the film, it is clearly contact. The feet are wide, which is an illegal screen to begin with, the body turns, and you get a guy that takes a shot in his quad and it looked to me initially like it was his knee so that was why I reacted, but that was not the game."
This was a game that the Hawks had an opportunity to win. A better half-shooting from three, a better performance from Young, Capela not missing a lot of close-ranged shots early in the game, and a better shooting game from Bogdanovic would have meant a Hawks win. But, it was their third straight loss, and the Hawks remain in 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks's next opportunity for a win will be on Sunday at home vs the Orlando Magic.
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