May 20, 1988: The Hawks played top-seeded Boston in Game 6 at the Omni, having seized an improbable 3-2 series lead with a classic performance — they scored 43 points in the fourth quarter — in Game 5 at Boston Garden. Win again, and the Hawks would eliminate their green nemesis and grace the Eastern Conference finals for the first time. It was the biggest home game in Atlanta Hawks annals.
May 1, 2014: The Hawks will play top-seeded Indiana in Game 6 at Philips Arena, having seized an improbable 3-2 series lead with a classic performance — they scored 41 points in the second quarter — in Game 5 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Win again, and the Hawks will become the sixth No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1. It is the biggest home game since Game 6 in 1988.
The Hawks lost Game 6 in 1988 because the moment was too big for them. (They would play much better two days later in the epic Game 7 loss in Boston.) These Hawks should win Thursday because they regard Game 6 as just a moment, albeit a significant one.
The Hawks in 1988 were — for newcomers, this will be hard to believe — the biggest game in town. Their strengths and weaknesses were a continuing source of civic discourse. (“They need another shooter!”) When those Hawks lost Games 1 and 2 in Boston, we all figured that was that. But they took Games 3 and 4 here on consecutive days, and then they won in the Garden, where nobody but the C’s won in those days.
Hundreds of fans gathered at the airport to welcome the Hawks home after Game 5. The day of Game 6 was as fraught as any in this city’s sporting history. Dominique Wilkins’ hands were sweating as he drove his red Ferrari to the Omni. In the locker room an hour before tipoff, Doc Rivers said, “If you’re not nervous for something like this, you’re not human.”
Alas, the Hawks were all too human. The Celtics’ Danny Ainge made a 3-pointer six seconds in. Having been the attacker in the previous three games, the Hawks were reduced to counterpunching. “With all the excitement, everyone seemed to do his own thing,” coach Mike Fratello said afterward. “They seemed to pull away from the team effort.”
Still, the green geezers couldn’t put the younger Hawks away. With four seconds remaining, the Hawks trailed by two points. Fratello drew a play with Wilkins as the first option and Rivers — the two had scored 67 of Atlanta’s 100 points — as the fallback. But Dennis Johnson blanketed ’Nique, and Rivers’ inbounds pass went to sub forward Cliff Levingston, a right-hander who loosed a running lefty hook that had no chance.
Speaking 20 years after the fact, Rivers called the pass to Levingston “not my greatest decision.” To this day, Wilkins remains angry: “How’d the ball not end up in my hands?” Six years ago, Fratello offered this deferred postmortem: “I kind of thought we got caught up in (the hype).”
Win or lose, the latter-day Hawks won’t be similarly ensnared. The Hawks of ’Nique and Doc and Spud Webb were an excitable bunch. These Hawks of Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver and DeMarre Carroll are not. This team didn’t grow up together. Every active Hawk except Jeff Teague has been imported since Danny Ferry became general manager in June 2012, and these men are here because they’re smart and seasoned.
In May 1988, Game 6 was considered a now-or-never thing. In May 2014, it’s clearly not. The eighth-seeded Hawks have been much the better team in the series — they’ve held a double-digit lead in every game; the Pacers have led by more than eight points only in Game 2 — and they’re buoyed by the knowledge that they won three times in Naptown in April. Asked after practice Wednesday if Game 6 was a must-win, Millsap said: “We personally think every game is a must-win. We know this is a big opportunity.”
If the Hawks aren’t surprised to be where they are, neither do they regard this series as a final showdown. Ferry has been in place not quite two years; coach Mike Budenholzer arrived in June. As great a night as Thursday can be, there should be greater nights ahead.
“I don’t want to overanalyze it,” Ferry said Wednesday, speaking of Game 6. “I want to focus on how we play … This is about trying to gain traction and momentum for the future.”
The 1988 Game 6 against Boston remains the greatest missed opportunity the Atlanta Hawks have known. Nearly 26 years later, these Hawks should win Game 6 and make history in the doing. If they don’t, they’ll fly back to Indy and win Game 7. Either way, they’ve got this.
About the Author
