It wasn't our imaginations .
When the Web Site went down, the auto downloads from the web server were also cut off.
All the custom map downloads reverted to the game servers themselves, both HLDM and DOD side.
That put some strain on the system and resulted in some strange lag.
The problem with the web server was some bad RAM. The provider had the RAM swapped out and the server rebooted in no time :D.
The lag was alleviated when the web site went back up.