Hawks’ Nate McMillan Urges Refs to Call Giannis for 10-Second Free-Throw Violations

AP Photo/John Bazemore

Atlanta Hawks head coach Nate McMillan hopes officials enforce the 10-second free-throw limit as their Eastern Conference Finals series with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks progresses.

“It’s a rule that we want them to call,” McMillan said Friday, per Sarah K. Spencer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “So the NBA announced that that should have been called and we hope that if that happens again, that it is called.”

The NBA’s Last Two Minute Report revealed that referees should have called Antetokounmpo for a violation on each of his two free-throw attempts with 5.3 seconds remaining in Game 1 of the Hawks’ 116-113 win.

Antetokounmpo has taken his time at the free-throw line lately, notably getting called a few times for violations when referees deemed that he took too long.

The Hawks weren’t happy about the referees’ lack of enforcement Wednesday though.

Of note, Sam Amick of the Athletic reported that Antetokounmpo’s eight free-throw attempts, “by the Hawks’ internal count — ranged between 11.5 seconds and 13.3 seconds on his eight attempts.” He did not get called for a violation though.

The Hawks lead the best-of-seven series 1-0.