1997–98 Atlanta Hawks season

The 1997–98 Atlanta Hawks season was the 49th season for the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association, and their 30th season in Atlanta, Georgia.^[1] The Hawks had the 22nd overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard Ed Gray from the University of California.^[2][3][4] During the off-season, the team signed free agent Chucky Brown,^[5][6] and re-signed Greg Anderson, who previously played for the Hawks during the 1994–95 season.^[7]

Due to the demolition of the Omni Coliseum during the off-season, the Hawks played their home games between the Georgia Dome, home of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, and the Alexander Memorial Coliseum, home of the NCAA's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets basketball team.^[8][9][10] The Alexander Memorial Coliseum, which was known as the Alexander Memorial Coliseum at McDonald's Center at the time, was also the Hawks' original home from 1968 to 1972, after the team relocated to Atlanta from St. Louis, Missouri.^[11]

The Hawks got off to a fast start by winning their first eleven games of the regular season.^[12][13] However, after a 19–5 start to the season, the team struggled posting a seven-game losing streak between December and January, but then posted a six-game winning streak afterwards, and later on held a 29–20 record at the All-Star break.^[14] In February, head coach Lenny Wilkens changed the team's starting lineup, replacing Christian Laettner at power forward with sixth man Alan Henderson for the remainder of the season.^[15][16][17] The Hawks won eight of their final eleven games of the season, and finished in fourth place in the Central Division with a solid 50–32 record, earning the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, and qualifying for the NBA playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.^[18]

Steve Smith averaged 20.1 points and 4.0 assists per game, while Henderson averaged 14.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, and was named the NBA Most Improved Player of the Year,^[16][19][20] and Laettner provided the team with 13.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. In addition, Dikembe Mutombo provided with 13.4 points, 11.4 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game, and was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive year; he was also named to the All-NBA Third Team, and to the NBA All-Defensive First Team.^[21][22][23] Meanwhile, Mookie Blaylock contributed 13.2 points, 6.7 assists and 2.6 steals per game, but struggled shooting .269 in three-point field-goal percentage, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, and Tyrone Corbin averaged 10.2 points and 1.3 steals per game. Off the bench, Eldridge Recasner contributed 9.3 points per game, while Gray contributed 7.6 points per game, but only played just 30 games due to a sprained right foot injury, and was suspended indefinitely for missing medical appointments,^[24][25] and Brown averaged 5.0 points per game.^[26]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, Mutombo and Smith were both selected for the 1998 NBA All-Star Game, as members of the Eastern Conference All-Star team; it was Smith's first and only All-Star appearance.^[27][28][29] Blaylock finished tied in fifth place in Defensive Player of the Year voting.^[30]

In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1998 NBA playoffs, the Hawks faced off against the 4th–seeded Charlotte Hornets, who were led by All-Star forward Glen Rice, Anthony Mason and Vlade Divac; Rice was Smith's former teammate on the Miami Heat. The Hawks lost the first two games to the Hornets on the road at the Charlotte Coliseum, but managed to win Game 3 at home by a 32-point margin, 96–64 at the Georgia Dome.^[31][32][33] However, the Hawks lost Game 4 to the Hornets at home, 91–82, thus losing the series in four games.^[34][35][36]

The Hawks finished 24th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 610,615 at the Georgia Dome, and the Alexander Memorial Coliseum during the regular season.^[26][37] Following the season, Laettner was traded to the Detroit Pistons,^[38][39][40] while Recasner and Brown both signed as free agents with the Charlotte Hornets,^[41][42] and Anderson was released to free agency.

One notable highlight of the regular season occurred on March 27, 1998, in which the Hawks set a then single-game regular season attendance record of 62,046 at the Georgia Dome in a game against All-Star guard Michael Jordan, and the 2-time defending NBA champion Chicago Bulls. However, the Hawks lost to the Bulls by a score of 89–74.^[43][44][45] The Bulls would go on to defeat the Utah Jazz in six games in the 1998 NBA Finals for their third consecutive NBA championship, and sixth overall in eight years.^[46][47][48]