The Atlanta Hawks are a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association (the NBA).  The Atlanta Hawks play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference with four other teams: the Miami Heat, the Orlando Magic, the Washington Wizards and the Charlotte Bobcats.  Hawks tickets will surely be hard to come by during the 2010-2011 NBA schedule.

Hawks 2009-2010 Outlook

The Atlanta Hawks finished the 2009-2010 NBA season with a 53-29 record and were the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference in the NBA playoffs.  The Hawks needed 7 games to defeat the 6th-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the 1st round of the NBA playoffs in a hard fought series.  This should have been a wake-up call to the Hawks squad, as they were in for a firestorm when they faced Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic in the Conference Semifinals.  The Magic easily routed the Hawks in a 4-game sweep as questions started swirling around Joe Johnson's ability to lead a team to an NBA Championship.  Hawks brass must not have been listening to fans or the critics, as they quickly signed Johnson to a max NBA contract as soon as the free agency period began.  Johnson will earn $119 million dollars over the next 6 years.  Johnson led the team with a 21.3 points per game average and a 4.9 assist per game average.  Al Horford led the Hawks with 9.9 rebounds per game, while also chipping in 14.2 points per game.  Jamal Crawford was the club's 2nd leading scorer with 18.0 points per game.  Josh Smith was 3rd in scoring with a 15.7 points per game average and 2nd in rebounding with a 8.7 rebounds per game average.   

Other than the Johnson signing, the Hawks did not do too much to improve it's club from the 2009-2010 squad.  While the Hawks will still be one of the better team's in the Eastern Conference, other team's have also gotten better - like the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks and Bucks.  It's unclear how far the Hawks will be able to go in the playoffs, but they should be one of the more exciting teams to watch during the upcoming season.  Get your Hawks NBA tickets at Philips Arena before it's too late.

History

The Atlanta Hawks were formed in 1946 as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in the tri-city area among Moline, Illinois, Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa – an area now known as the “Quad Cities”.  The team played in the National Basketball League (the NBL) until 1949 when the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America to form the NBA.  The Atlanta Hawks were a team on the move, however, and in 1951, the franchise moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and became known as the Milwaukee Hawks.  Just four years later, the franchise moved again – this time to St. Louis, Missouri to become the St. Louis Hawks.  The City of St. Louis became the franchise’s successful home for 14 years.  The St. Louis Hawks advanced to the NBA playoffs all but 1 year during their stay in St. Louis.  During that stretch, the franchise recorded 50 wins in a season 2 times, and the St. Louis Hawks played in 4 NBA Finals series from 1956 through 1961.  The St. Louis Hawks won the franchise’s only NBA Championship in 1957-1958.  That season, the St. Louis Hawks won 41 games and avenged a loss to the Boston Celtics in the previous season’s NBA Championship series with a 4-2 Championship series win. 

When the city of St. Louis refused to cooperate with the construction of a new revenue-generating arena, Hawks’ ownership sold the franchise to Atlanta real estate developer Tom Cousins and Georgia Governor Carl Sanders and the team relocated to Atlanta, Georgia.  The team played its first four seasons in Georgia Tech’s Alexander Memorial Coliseum while the Omni Coliseum was being built in downtown Atlanta.  The Atlanta Hawks were initially successful – advancing to the NBA playoffs 5 consecutive years from 1968 through 1973.  The Atlanta Hawks followed that up with 4 consecutive losing seasons, however, and as a result, new owner Ted Turner hired Hubie Brown as head coach.  The Atlanta Hawks improved under head coach Brown and even won 50 games in 1979-1980, but the team could never advance past the Eastern Conference semifinals.  The Atlanta Hawks acquired superstar Dominique Wilkins in 1982 and promoted assistant Mike Fratello to the head coaching position.  Under Fratello’s tenure, the Atlanta Hawks won at least 50 games each season from 1985 through 1989.  However, once again the team seemed to lose focus in the playoffs, losing in the first round or Eastern Conference semifinals each and every year. Following the 1992-1993 season, the franchise hired Lenny Wilkens to be the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks once again.  Wilkens led the team to 57 victories, tying a franchise record during the 1993-1994 season.  And although the Atlanta Hawks recorded winning seasons each of the next 5 years and advanced to the NBA playoffs each of those years, the fan base could not get over the trading of superstars Dominique Wilkins and Danny Manning.  During the 1998-1999 lockout-shortened season, the Atlanta Hawks won 31 games, but lost to the New York 4-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.  Since then, the Atlanta Hawks have not had a winning record nor have they qualified for post-season play.      
 
The Atlanta Hawks have retired the following players’ numbers:  Bob Petit’s #9, Dominique Wilkins’ #21; Lou Hudson’s #23; and Jason Collier’s #40. 

Hawks TV/Radio

All Atlanta Hawks basketball games can be seen on the FSN South and Sport South television networks in the greater Atlanta, Georgia area.  NBC, ESPN and TNT may also televise Atlanta Hawks games based on the popularity of the game.  Tune into The Hawks Radio Network at WQXI 790 on your AM dial to catch each Atlanta Hawks basketball game on the radio.

The Atlanta Hawks play their home games at Philips Arena.  Philips Arena opened in 1999.  In addition to hosting Atlanta Hawks NBA home games, Philips Arena also hosts all of the home professional hockey games for the Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hockey League (the NHL).  Philips Arena is owned and operated by Atlanta Spirit, LLC - the same investment group that owns the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta Thrashers.  Philips Arena holds a seating capacity of 18,729 devoted die-hard Atlanta Hawks fans.  Philips Arena has a unique layout, with all of the revenue-generating club seats and luxury boxes placed solely on one side of the playing surface, with the “general” public seating set out around the other 3 sides of the playing surface.  This layout was designed to bring a majority of the seats closer to the court and ice.  Philips Arena has also played host to numerous memorable and historic concerts and special events during its short 9-year history, including the 2004 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and several World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment events.  Philips is also slated to host the 2008 NHL All-Star Game.

  Address:
    Philips Arena
   1 Philips Drive
   Atlanta, Georgia 30303

www.nba.com/hawks 
www.philipsarena.com

2007-2008 Hawks
2009-2010 Hawks