Hawks-Cavs Game 1 Viewed From Inside Philips Arena

It was 4PM yesterday afternoon. I had just finished my 7PM post on why RJ Hunter should go to the Milwaukee Bucks when I received a phone call from one of my closest friends. My friend works at Philips Arena and had offered me a once in a lifetime opportunity. Two tickets to Hawks-Cavaliers Game 1. I wasn’t sure if I could swing it on that short of notice. It took me just a few moments to come to grips with this opportunity. This is the Eastern Conference Finals and the Atlanta Hawks are part of them. What am I crazy? Of course I’m going!

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The vibe at Philips Arena was surreal. Atlanta fans were just blown away that Hawks have made it this far in the playoffs. Though the team was in unfamiliar territory, the fans were bursting with excitement for the chance to play for a championship. Fans were breaking into spontaneous cheers all around the CNN Center and Philips Arena. The playoff atmosphere was alive and well in Downtown Atlanta.

The first half was a grind for both teams. Neither team could put together much of an offensive run. Atlanta was doing most of its damage inside and Cleveland kept hitting highly contested mid-range shots. It was neck-and-neck into halftime as the game was all tied up at 51.

Atlanta went cold offensively in the third period and Cleveland built a double-digit lead. LeBron James took over and even though he played for the other team, he was a lot of fun to watch. It was like the Iso-LeBron of old, as he absolutely had the shooter’s touch tonight. LeBron James and JR Smith’s stellar shooting, along with some questionable officiating calls against the Hawks gave Cleveland a sizable lead entering the fourth quarter.

Even though the shots weren’t falling for Atlanta as much as they were for Cleveland, the Philips crowd screamed “DE-FENSE, DE-FENSE” just about every time the Cavs had the basketball. When Kent Bazemore threw down that monstrous dunk of his, it got everyone out of the seats and sparked one last shot of a comeback. The Hawks clawed back from a deficit in the high teens to a two-possession ball game. But when LeBron James had that uncontested dunk inside the final 90 seconds or so, Cleveland more or less sealed a Game 1 road victory.

I wasn’t pleased that so many Atlanta fans got up and left when the game was out of reach in the final seconds. It has been almost my life’s work to defend the Atlanta sports fan. I feel like I lost a lot of credibility in that mass exodus. Even in a loss, this was a historic game for the Atlanta Hawks and we all should have stayed right up until the end and supported our basketball team. Your precious cars could have waited for three more minutes. Can’t wait to get reamed by the national media today.

I will give credit to how the crowd handled the DeMarre Carroll knee injury. It sucked the life out of Philips and it looked bad from every angle. We didn’t bury our heads in the sand when our best defensive player needed help off the court and into the locker room. That was a tough blow for the Hawks but the Philips crowd did its best to lift Atlanta in the final minutes of Game 1. Even though the Hawks lost, this was still a great basketball game. These are two very good teams and it will be a fun series until the end.

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