The Hawks played in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time last month, and they hadn’t been close to a conference finals since their great semifinals matchup against Boston in 1988.
The head coach then was Mike Fratello, and the Hawks won Game 5 in Boston and led the series 3-2, setting up a possible series-clinching Game 6 at The Omni.
The Hawks found themselves down two points with just over five seconds left against the K.C. Jones-coached Celtics. They got the ball back for a final shot after a Larry Bird turnover.
As longtime play-by-play announcer Steve Holman would tell NBA.com years later about that game, “The Omni was as raucous as it had ever been. People were hanging from the rafters right from the start, all night. … I remember people carrying a coffin around that said, ‘KC Jones Retirement Party.’ It was great.’’
The plan was to get the ball to Dominique Wilkins and let him do his thing.
“We trusted him with the ball,’’ Fratello said.
But Wilkins wasn’t open, and the game ended with a driving Cliff Levingston throwing up a left-handed shot that clanged off the rim.
Said Fratello, “Boston put Dennis Johnson on Dominique, and he did a great job by pushing Wilkins to the sideline. We couldn’t get the ball to him. Cliff flashed to the basket, and there wasn’t a whole lot of time left. Obviously, if I could do it again, I would draw something up different to get Dominique open.’’
The Hawks then went to Boston for Game 7 in what would be one of the great one-on-one battles in NBA playoff history between Wilkins and Bird. Wilkins finished with 47 points, on an amazing 19-of-23 from the floor, and Bird with 34, 20 in the fourth quarter, but the Celtics came out on top 118-116.
“It was painful because I loved the city and that team so much,’’ Fratello said. “But I take responsibility for it.’’
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