Illawarra coach Justin Tatum has taken an extraordinary swipe at NBL referee Chris Reid, suggesting the veteran official has a habit of showing up and derailing the Hawks' momentum.
Chasing a third straight win, Illawarra were trounced 106-78 by the Adelaide 36ers in a heated clash on Saturday marred by a fourth-quarter brawl which saw Hawks centre Makur Maker ejected.
With 3:51 left, Sixers import Nick Rakocevic pushed Maker, before being shoved hard in the chest by Illawarra's Will Hickey in retaliation. Rakocevic ended in the arms of Tatum as the all-in melee spilled into the Hawks' bench.
Rakocevic received only a technical foul for his role in starting the episode, while Hickey copped a flagrant foul, and Maker was handed a technical and a flagrant, ending his night.
Tatum was visibly displeased when Read informed him of the findings.
"It seems like, for us, every time we find a way to get momentum in the league, or momentum when we're playing well, the league sends us Chris Reid," Tatum said.
"We've found a way to not have him as much as we can, but at the end of the day, we've still got to play through it.
"I felt it was unfortunate. 'MK' (Maker) shouldn't have been kicked out.
"If he was, then both of them (Maker and Rakocevic) should have been kicked out."
Rakocevic not only avoided being turfed, he was awarded four consecutive free throws plus possession.
"They said they gave Maker one technical foul for retaliating and the other for an unsportsmanlike foul," Tatum said.
"We were trying to figure out what the unsportsmanlike foul was. As soon as the ball went out of bounds, Rakocevic clearly pushed Maker in the back.
"Anybody would react to getting pushed in the back. We held MK back as much as we could.
"You saw me try to get Rakocevic out of the way and calm everything down.
"There's no way MK should have got two fouls and got kicked out."
Adelaide coach Trevor Gleeson was unsure what sparked the exchange, but praised his bench for staying put instead of running to the action.
"I didn't see how it started," he said."I think there was some pushing and the third guy (Hickey) came in.
"I don't know if that was a throwing one or whatever, but it escalated pretty quick from a minor situation.
"I was glad that we didn't jump on the court."
