8
Nov
2026
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Tatum takes aim at league as only Maker gets kicked out
Illawarra Hawks head coach Justin Tatum tries to separate Makur Maker and Adelaide 36ers’ Nick Rakocevic as tempers flare during their Round 8 NBL27 clash at Adelaide Entertainment Centre on November 7, 2026. Photo: Sarah Reed/Getty Images.
Highlights
Maker was the only player ejected after a late scuffle in Adelaide, and his coach says it was wrong.
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Illawarra head coach Justin Tatum slammed the decision to kick out only Hawks big man Makur Maker ($99,800) after Adelaide agitator Nick Rakocevic ($188,400) instigated an ugly scuffle that Tatum himself was caught in the middle of in the fourth quarter of their Round 8 NBL27 blow-out 106-78 loss to the 36ers in Adelaide.
Rakocevic, 28, lit the fuse in front of Illawarra’s bench by needlessly pushing Maker after a rebounding contest with 3:53 to go; Hawks teammate William Hickey ($331,600) then pushed the Serbian-American with two hands in the chest, and Maker then came back at Rakocevic as the scuffle spilled into the Hawks bench.
Tatum bear-hugged Rakocevic to de-escalate what could have become much worse. In the end, the referee crew assessed:
- Makur Maker: Category One Technical Foul
- Nick Rakocevic: Category One Technical Foul
- Makur Maker: Flagrant Foul (Disqualified)
- William Hickey: Flagrant Foul
- Nick Rakocevic: Two Free Throws
- Nick Rakocevic: Two Free Throws
The Hawks had come into the Adelaide Entertainment Centre after winning two straight for the first time this season and since February.
“It's unfortunate. It's unfortunate what the result was,” Tatum said.
“It seems like every time we find a way to get momentum in the league, or momentum just playing well, the league sends us (referee) Chris Reid.
“We've found a way not to have him as much as we can, but at the end of the day, we still got to play through it.
“I felt it was unfortunate to the point where MK shouldn't have been kicked out. He should not have been kicked out.
“If it was, both of them should have been kicked out. But Adelaide's Adelaide. So it is what it is.
Both Tatum and 36ers head coach Trevor Gleeson were called to mid-court for the verdict.
“They said they gave him one technical foul for retaliating, then the unsportsmanlike,” Tatum said.
“We were trying to figure out where the unsportsmanlike foul was. As soon as the ball went out of bounds, Rakocevic clearly pushed him in the back. Anybody would react to getting pushed in the back.
“We understand that Davo got a technical foul for helping his teammate. That was totally fine. We held MK back as much as we could.
“You see me trying to get Rak out of the way and calm everything down.
“But there's no way MK should have got two technical fouls and been kicked out, and Rakocevic and Adelaide shoot four free throws and get the ball.”
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It’s the first time long-time NBL referee Reid has officiated a Hawks game this season, and the overall numbers don’t quite support Tatum’s claim. Illawarra is 27-21 in games he’s officiated since 2021, including 16-12 on the road and 4-2 in the Finals.
Illawarra went 2-6 in games he officiated in NBL26, in a season when the Hawks were 13-20 in their title defence and now 2-7 since their NBL26 117-88 loss to the Breakers on October 8, 2025.
NBL27 referees have been under an intense spotlight at the start of the season, but Tatum conceded they had little to do with the 28-point loss.
“I'm not here to talk about referees,” he said.
“The league has talked about them and given them enough attention already.
“I'm not going to be a meme today and have anybody talk about me complaining about referees.
“We should have played better. We should have done a lot of things better, and unfortunately we didn't.”
It’s not the first time Rakocevic has been in the middle of a dust-up.
He received a two-game ban (one game suspended) for striking Finn Delany in December 2025, a fine and an activated suspension (one game) for unsportsmanlike conduct in the Bullets brawl, and a one-game suspension (fined on an early plea) for striking Mojave King ($189,100) in October.
Gleeson hinted the match review committee still has more work to do.
"The beauty of having a review centre, they can look at it straight away,” Gleeson said.
"I didn't see how it started. I think there was some pushing and then the third guy came in, and I don't know if that was a throwing one or whatever.
"It escalated pretty quick from kind of a minor situation.
"I was glad that we didn't jump on the court. I think they had a lot of guys on the court. I'm not sure if they were on the court or on the bench, and then it escalated towards their bench.
"Interesting."
Fans on YouTube, underneath the NBL's published press conference, quickly chimed in with their opinions.
@OGEETOMO said: "He's completely right about the reffing regarding that incident I don't know how a guy can be standing baseline get shoved out by the other team's player not throw a punch and somehow its him getting thrown out of the game and the instigator gets nothing ? How can you be nearly 30 pts up and instigate but not get penalised equally to the other team it just defies common sense. Having said that why are you even doing that you're 30 points up win with some grace."
@aussiesurfer805 said: 100% agree with his comments and frustration over the outcome of that incident."
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