Think Taipans will grind this one out purely because they are home. Hawks are good but only ever show true great glimpses at home imo

This is a Hawks home game

Hawks are at home and should win.

My bad. Hawks will win at home they are a different beast at the gong and cairns should find it harder to slow the tempo and play grind ball. Once the shits start flying the Hawks should have enough offense to do the job. That win over adelaide will be huge for their momentum and it's a momentum sport!

Mitchell is garbage. 3 fouls in the first quarter is pathetic.

Who cares. He can't control his temper that's his fault. Stupidity.

Lol Mitchell. He is terrible.

Looks like the Hawks have regained their mojo at the right time of the season.

Geez Mitchell 4 fouls in 7minutes I'd be pissed too haha Hawks putting on a clinic. Cream is starting to slowly rise.

6 points to hawks 4 half mins to go in the 4th.

Surely Fearne gets the sack now. Another failure of a year.

Does Fearne select his own imports, if so they've let him down if not he's probably getting close to the end though finding anyone better could be hard with Cairns budget.

Third attempt, hopefully won't somehow end up as a triple post, here goes;

Was at the game, and am not a fan of either team - but Cairns were straight up reffed out of it. So many terrible fouls (Mitchell had maybe 2 legit fouls against him, and a tech...he did carry on like a goose after being fouled out, should be fined, didn't deserve 5 fouls though).....it wasn't just the gross fouls that were called, but also so many non-calls, that should have been given - the lead wouldn't have blown out to 20+ had the refs not been so inept. (Sidenote: the word 'inept' just reminded me of Egwu...the guy is lost on the court, also thinks he can block every shot. ..probably lucky not to be called for illegal screens).

The coaching was fine....he obviously understood this game was lost by halftime, sent his guys out to have a real crack at the start of the third, soon found out the referring was still complete rubbish - so rested his stars for the upcoming home game that they should have a fair shot of winning. (Keyword: fair).

Would have been a good game if not for the refs.

The big fella appeared to be moving freely....possibly not as fit as he could be - can't understand why he was taken off early, i think it had to do with him just being belted all game and not getting a single call - so they were allowed to keep belting him....he was looking frustrated by halftime. I genuinely believe the coach just rested Wortho, Nate and Trice - no point everyone getting fouled out and tech'd. Just focus on the winnable games.

The game was too fast for him. Simple as that. And the notion he was "belted" all game is ridiculous. The physicality in last night's game compared to the physicality Hawks applied to the 36ers last round were totally poles apart. Last night's game was a track meet, not a physical game at all. He just played poorly.

Yeah, that could be the reason...at least part of it. They did get it back to around 7 or 9 - and they didn't seem interested in putting the starters back in. As a neutral observer, i got to the point where i didn't even know how to react to the refs decisions - very few made sense (and many calls were clearly a 'woops, we got the last one wrong...have this meaningless call instead.')

It is a shame, because that could have been a classic....maybe the finals will be better.

lol - ok....so i mustn't have seen elbows, knees and hard fouls every time Nate had the ball? It was textbook "hack-a-shaq" - without any of the fouls being called.

Not suggesting he had a good game....just saying he wasn't allowed to.

lol - ok....so i mustn't have seen elbows, knees and hard fouls every time Nate had the ball? It was textbook "hack-a-shaq" - without any of the fouls being called.

That appraisal is laughable. You might want to go back and watch the replay.

Not certain how Jawai puts up with it, it's happened all year, he deserves a fair go but never seems to happen.
All in all though Cairns were terrible and had so much to play for, there defence was woefull for 80% of the game.

Mate i was there, metres away....i don't need to watch the replay. I also didn't start posting to argue with anyone - just simply telling it how I saw it.

How long have you been a hawks fan?

And yep....Cairns were by no means playing well - but i completely understand why. Everything they did looked like it was in slow motion (until Wortho woke up)

Didn't know it happens every game. ...but not surprised, it's how i would play against Nate too....but I'd expect to be pulled up for it a few times.

You saw it wrong. Maybe being meters away didn't help your perception. If you watch it again you will see why you are wrong. That would be the softest physical pressure he has faced all season. The Hawks and the game were to quick for him. Fearne basically said as much in his half time interview.

Contact was hard every time he touched the ball - though he didn't touch the ball as much as he should have. As i said earlier, he doesn't look as fit as he probably should be.....and yes, the Hawks had him on the fast break. None of that means he wasn't getting belted - and beyond that, doesn't change my opinion of the refs performance - which was atrocious. That was the real story of the game...and i wish it wasn't.

The Hawks probably did have the game plan to beat the Taipans - but it wouldn't have mattered how they played, assuming the refs dictated the game the way they did last night.

And they were so atrocious you are the only poster to shit can them. Usually when they are bad every one tips in. That doesn't appear the case. You got it wrong, its ok.

Maybe everyone is just used to seeing mediocre officiating, and accept it as part of the game? Or maybe they just chip in when they feel their team has been slighted? (Or maybe they are at reddit saying the same thing...)

Either way it doesn't matter, it happened - and if that's a typical performance from every ref, they should all be sacked...or at least retrained.

I wish your team (the Hawks, right?) all the best for the rest of the year - i don't see them going deep into the finals, but they'll give it a good shake up!

Lucky I have the game on IQ and just watched Big Nate's first period on court. He starts the first quarter and get's subbed out at 4.18. (he only plays 15.06 for the entire game)

No one comes near him for the entire 5.42 he is on the court. 1st play he get's blocked by Kay. After that he get's 2 free throws fouled by Ogilvy and after that he get's a lay up uncontested and that is his first stint on the court.

He hardly get's knee's, elbow's and hack a shaq the entire game.

How come Trice hardly played? Had a middle on him to get 3 assists which was looking fairly good half way through the game, but then he only went on for another few minutes in the last quarter and a half?

Cairns fans get so salty when they lose. You'd think they'd be used to it by now.

Cool...I'm going to stop posting after this - and I'm only posting now because i think someone has mistakenly assumed I'm a Cairns fan (I'm not..as i said in at least two posts) i just don't want Cairns fans to be blamed for my opinions.

And am i salty? A little bit yeah. ....i don't appreciate how the game i love was officiated - and i wanted to share a neutral 'at the game' perspective....but it's clearly not wanted, we'd all rather judge everything from an armchair with a commentator in our ear, and probably with a bias towards one team or the other.

Cool, no worries - enjoy your discussions.

Just don't trash talk Cairns fans, when you're probably just trash talking me.

Go look at the replay..dont be salty. I dont follow hawks. I just dont like people making comments based on fantasy. Go watch the 1st 5.42, its there plain as day.