Loose Talk: The Editors’ Take
Atlanta: a city marred by years of disappointment and heartbreak in sports. From the 2012 failure of the Falcons and the seasons of disappointment since to the collapse of the once-powerful Braves, the highlight of Atlanta’s woes has always been their NBA franchise: the Atlanta Hawks. In addition to having the second-longest NBA title drought at 56 years, the team has managed to add insult to injury by maintaining the second-longest active playoff streak.
That’s not to say that the Hawks were a good team. They weren’t bad by any means, but nobody ever got his or her hopes up over winning it all. The perennial five seed, Atlanta had a wonderful way of never making it past the second round of the playoffs. Sure, the series would always be closely contested; hell, they even took Indiana to seven games when they were the eight seed, and they didn’t have Al Horford. But at the end of the day, Atlanta hopeful went home with nothing but broken dreams and heartbreak.
At least, that was until the fans stopped coming. Atlanta fell further and further back in terms of total attendance versus stadium size. Phillips Arena failed to sell even seventy percent of capacity, let alone have a sellout game. ESPN rated Atlantean fans “the worst in America,” but at the end of the day, nobody could blame them. Atlanta is in the heart of the SEC, and when your favorite sport defines failure by a single loss, it’s hard to support a team that doesn’t win.
Before the 2014-2015 season, after the Donald Sterling fiasco, the owner of the Hawks, Bruce Levenson, turned himself in after he released numerous e-mails that revealed that he was trying to find a way to get the suburban whites to come to the games again instead of being scared away by the “thuggish” attitude of many of the inner-city black fans. The teams’ future seemed to be up in the air.
Amongst all the brouhaha in the administrative office, the 2015 season began, and after a 7-6 start, the Hawks looked like they were headed for another first round exit. However, something was different about this season. Coach Budenholzer, longtime assistant coach to San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, began to find sucess in his ball-movement system. The Hawks started to win game after game, and by Christmas, the Hawks stood atop the East for the first time in 17 years with a mighty 21-7 record.
This season, instead of injuries, the Hawks got fans for Christmas. The day after Christmas, the Hawks had a sellout game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the second sellout of the season, and the first set of consecutive sellouts in the past half decade. In typical Atlanta fashion, Atlanta lost by thirty as the backup PF for Milwaukee, Jared Dudley, went seven-for-seven from the three point line for a career high 26 points, completely humiliating the Hawks in front of their home crowd. Many critics claimed that Atlanta had blown their one shot to impress the city, and as someone who was at the game and felt the enregy seep out of the stadium, I almost thought they were right.
We were all proven wrong. This new season not only rang in a new team, but also a new group of publicity managers in the Hawks’ front office. Levenson’s aims, while misguided, were being brought to frution by the team’s rebranding. From 3-D intros before every game to a new social media presence, from the “new old” Pac-Man logo to zany promotion nights such as “Swipe Right Night” or the Spotify playlists, the Hawks caught up with the 21st century and drew in fans with their cool new imge.
After the loss to Milwaukee, Atlanta went on to win 19 straight, including the NBA’s first 17-0 perfect month: the greatest month of basketball of all time. Critics of the team disregarded them for not having a “superstar,” but after their performance in January, the entire Hawks’ starting five was named the East’s “Player of the Month” by the league. Not only did the Hawks dominate their own conference, they also toppled the “popular favorites” for the league champions: the Wiz, the Bulls, the Warriors, the Clippers etcetera.
Going into the All-Star break, the Hawks are eight games ahead of the second-best team in the East, the Toronto Raptors, and also have a winning percentage less than one below the league leaders: the Goldern State Warriors (a team we already beat, mind you). Tied for most All-Stars on a team with four, they also boast the frontrunner for Sixth Man of the Year in Dennis Schroder and coach of the All-Star team in the East. They’re the favorites to win the Championship, and, right now, they’re one of the most dominant teams.
But more than that, they’ve brought a new hope to a city that’s been smacked around for decades. Atlanta, a transplant city, is often taken over by people who are fans of foreign teams, and due to Atlanta’s past mediocrity, they’ve often been dominated in crowd presence even at home games. Now the Hawks have given sports fans in Atlanta something to cheer for, they’ve taken one of the most desperate arenas in the nation and turned it back into the Highlight Factory.