McGee complaint "Sour Grapes"

Two-time Olympian and 335 NBL gamer, Mark Worthington, believes Justin Tatum's comments about the way JaVale McGee has been treated by the referees could be taken the wrong way, after another disappointing Hawks' defeat.

"I understand the sentiment as a coach, to protect your superstar player, but it comes across as sour grapes after a loss like that," Worthington said during Thursday's episode of NBL Now.

"Then to say he isn't being protected, when he's had 17 free-throw attempts over the past two games, isn't fair.

"We haven't seen a player of his athleticism and length before in the NBL, so teams are going to go after him to try and get him out of his comfort zone, to make life as difficult as they can for him.

"In these incidents, JaVale has got to keep his cool, as we saw him throw Rob Lowe to the ground on Wednesday, and now teams have seen that, they're going to go into him a lot harder.

"In fairness, I think the NBL refs have judged him fairly well up to this point."

Tatum's comments came off the back of the Hawks' shock loss to the Breakers, meaning the defending champions are still searching for their first win of the season.

"We've got a 16-year NBA veteran on our team who's been getting fouled on the floor, tripped up and checked at half-court. We've got to fight through a lot of adversity on that one," Tatum said in his post-game media conference.

"I'm not sure he's enjoying it, but he's a professional and he's going to keep fighting through it.

"He could be an advocate for the league, but I'm not sure he's going to do that if the league misinterpret or does not understand how to ref a guy his size.

"I gotta protect my players because the league does not.

"I don't think the league deserves him being here."

Worthington, who spent time at the Sydney Kings, South Dragons, Melbourne Tigers, Gold Coast Blaze and Cairns Taipans, added the outburst by the NBL championship-winning coach could go two ways.

"The match-up of Tyrell Harrison and JaVale on Saturday is between the two best bigs in the League, and it'll be interesting to see the follow-up from the refs after Tatum's comments," he said.

"Typically, this works one of two ways: JaVale McGee will have an outstanding game and dominate, or he's going to get absolutely hosed and we're going to see Tyrell Harrison shine."

That Round 4 fixture between Illawarra and Brisbane, who recently agreed to mutually part ways with Javon Freeman-Liberty, tips off at 7.30pm AEDT at the WIN Entertainment Centre, live on ESPN.