Quin Snyder defends actions in Hawks' loss to Raptors

Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder has his players’ backs.

He put that on full display in the Hawks’ loss to the Toronto Raptors on February 23. Snyder drew rapid-fire technical fouls, getting ejected from the game over a missed foul when Raptors center Jakob Poeltl set an illegal screen on Trae Young.

Young, who has dealt with various bumps and bruises this season, went down and was slow to get up.

Snyder was down the floor and in the official’s ear quickly.

“It was a foul,” Snyder told reporters after the game. “He turned his body. That's a quick, that's an automatic foul. That's the call. And, obviously, my reaction. You don't react like that, typically, to any foul. In that case, I saw Trae take a shot to his quad, and I was concerned about his knee, frankly.

“He was on the ground, and I was worried that he was hurt. 

“I probably deserved the technical, although that was the rationale. I don't know why the second one came as quickly as it did. Typically you get one. There's some level of understanding: my player’s on the ground and could be hurt.”

Young would remain in the game, finishing with a season-low 11 points adding seven assists and three rebounds.

“My reaction was certainly an emotional one, and that was the reason why. But you see it on the film, it's clearly contact. [Poeltl’s] feet are wide, which is an illegal screen to begin with. And then [Poeltl’s] body turns and get a guy that takes a shot in his quad and looked, to me initially, like it was his knee. So that was why I reacted.”

Officials admit missed call in Hawks’ loss to Raptors

Crew chief Karl Lane admitted that they missed the call on Poeltl during the pool report with Lauren L. Williams of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

During the time on the court we felt that Jakob Poeltl got to a legal guarding position, but when we looked at it at halftime, we did notice that it was illegal leg-to-leg contact and there should have been a foul called,” Lane said.

As for Snyder’s quick hook?

“For charging toward an official aggressively and using profane language,” Lane said of Snyder’s initial tech. “He continued to charge toward the official and continued to use profane language.”

Lane clarified that they would not have been able to add the foul after the fact. But he also put the onus on Snyder to be “responsible for his actions.” For his part, Snyder noted the game was not decided by his getting tossed out.

He cited the Hawks starting slow, getting back cut, and not getting back while constantly in transition defense. 

Snyder called for the Hawks to focus on controlling what they can, such as urgency in transition.

Lane defended the out-of-bounds call on Dejounte Murray, which Snyder said he did not see clearly, again noting that the game was not decided by one play. Snyder also commended Clint Capela, who played more than 19 minutes in his first game since February 3.