Official Game Thread: 76ers at Hawks -- The Home Finale!

[lethalweapon3]

“I skate on ya crew! Like Mario Lemieux!”

 

Downtown living was made easy by the CNN Center food court. So was Atlanta Hawks fandom. In the mid-1990s, there wasn’t much overlap between the two.

A new Atlanta resident, I arrived downtown about a decade after Hawks owner Ted Turner got another sweetheart deal from the prior one. Tom Cousins intended to unload his Omni International Complex office/retail property, adjoining the Omni sports arena, into the lap of the round-the-clock news media mogul. The deal was announced to much fanfare, and relief, almost exactly 38 years ago today. The failed indoor ice rink/arcade/amusement park? All in the rear-view mirror. Bring on the Goodwill Games, Captain Courageous!

By 1996, I could hang out on weekend mornings, drop off mail at the mini-post office, check out a movie at the two-theater cinema, catch up on Olympic news below the world’s flags surrounding the food court, pick up dry cleaning, and entrap visiting friends into touring the CNN Center museum: “Be sure to do the green screen thingy.”

On weekday evenings, I could go to Jock’s and Jill’s, or munch on greasy meals at the food court. The next morning, I could read the AJC freshly printed from down the street, while peeking to see which no-necked superstar, on his way to the Turner/CNN employee gym, was swinging by the first-floor WCW offices to pick up that week’s paycheck.

My Fed-gummint job, and many others’, moved downtown. When they built a cut-through at the Gulch to lure employees to the food court and the Omni arena’s doorstep, I was among the precious few who dared to bite. That is, until I made the mistake of returning with my daily booty: “Where’d you get those Arby’s curly fries???”  Suddenly, at least on the weekdays, I found myself with an intrepid lunchtime co-worker convoy.

Having not to scamper out beyond I-285, and having reasonably straightforward access via MARTA, for sporting events was of great benefit for Yours Truly, a native Philadelphian who used to hop the subway to Broad and Pattison to watch every team. As income become a bit more disposable, so did my attendance for pro games and pro rasslin’ at the Omni, later Philips after a brief stay at the Thrillerdome, as well as Turner Field and the Georgia Dome.

It was in the middle of the CNN Center food court, probably watching CNN/SI in hopes of postgame highlights after a Hawks game, where I formally submitted my Declaration of Independence. From the Philadelphia 76ers.

Shifting NBAllegiances, upon moving here, was a task I could conveniently put off until some later date. No one in this three-or-four-sport town cared if you were a carpetbagging adult still riding with the teams of your adolescence. I rocked Hawks gear, such that I could find any, for most of 363 days per year. But two days were reserved for the times Pat Croce’s 76ers rolled into town: “Hey! Everybody...”

My “Sixit” plan when I moved here began after Allen Iverson was drafted into the league. Ride it out with A.I. for however long it lasts. When he is no longer a Sixer, then, let’s see what these staid Hawks have going on by then, and whether they’re smart enough not to trade off their franchise All-Stars to the Clippers anymore.

Similar deal with Eagles/Falcons. The Dirty Bird run was nice, but I could ditch my midnight green for red-and-black once the Falcons gave me someone, in Mike Vick, that I could latch by bandwagon onto. Why bother continuing to root on the big walrus of a coach who will never win The Big Game? Instead, I can lean on the athletic QB that not only looked to be a generational talent, but, relative to Mr. McNabb, was sure to be less of a media-manufactured nightmare.

But who, I wondered as the Sixit decision neared, would become the Hawks’ version of Michael Michael Motorcycle? Eh… Atlanta’s Own, you will have to do. J-Smoove, I’m your huckleberry.

I didn’t get the pleasure of waiting for a clean break between Iverson and the Sixers. Twenty years into my schism to morph into a true-red Hawks fan, I have since been able to enjoy the remodeling of Olde Philips into a true sporting destination (for hoops, anyway), an ATLANTA-canopied jewel that finally brings synergy and life to what used to be the rough-and-tumbleweed outskirts of downtown Atlanta.

Simultaneous with the arena’s resurgence, I, along with thousands of fellow Atlantans, have had to witness the slow, cringeworthy demise of the complex complex connected to it along Dominique Wilkins Way.

As you and most Atlantans are aware, the next time the 76ers and Hawks play here at State Farm Arena, after today (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Philadelphia), the CNN iconography adorning the Center will be no more. That, and the CNN employees still left in this town are all moving back around Ted’s old studio mansion on Midtown’s Techwood Drive, a site now expanded and run by Warner Media.

I had been clanging the Dead Mall Walking bell ever since Turner started selling off his controlling interests in CNN, and the Hawks, to AOL Time Warner (Remember dial-up? And those CDs? What a time. Remember Time?), and as AOL ceded WCW to the now wonderfully mustachioed Vince McMahon, Jr.

I looked on during the transitional phase of the Aughts, as 9/11 turned the CNN Center space from a collection of lightly used retail endeavors on the upper tiers, to a media-security fortress surrounding a cheap open-air food court. What will happen, I wondered aloud, once the Warner folks in New York City found no further need to center their newscast services in Atlanta? What is the future functionality of CNN Center when CNN moves on?

The hints of impending doom bounced louder off the reinforced concrete walls, as the Don Lemons and Anderson Coopers of the world moved to NYC full-time. Also as CNN’s associated Headline News channel, still CNN Center-based, became HLN, then, more recently, the What Do We Need Another True Crime and Haunted House Channel For, Exactly? Network.

These days, there are infinitely more things for randos to do in this corner of town. Wanna go check out Cam Newton’s new BBQ joint? Or Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville bar, a Hard Rock hotel, a Waffle House, or a milkshake bar? You can do all of that. You want a ride on a Ferris wheel, check out fancy fish or football or history in a museum? Check, check, check. You just can’t do any of those things within the confines of this big, Brutalist monolith.

At its most basic, CNN Center would always be useful as the place to crash when you, and/or your colleagues, and/or your touring family or church group or conventioneers in matching tees, needed a well-ventilated, air-conditioned space to crash and chill for just an hour or two. You could always turn to the big screen above the food court and listen above the din of the crowds as big, live news broke.

Now, in all likelihood, the big screen will come down soon. Then, it’ll just be you, that scrumptious Great Wraps! gyro, and thousands of oddball strangers as you all await the arena doors opening for Hawks games. For now.

I’d love to tell you the grand plans the Florida-based owners of CNN Center have in store once all the selfie-friendly signage and vestiges of Turner’s past glories get packed up. I used to have an easy answer, but the state legislature is doing all they can to hold off Hard Rock and anybody else from converting the place into a palace for gambling degenerates.

Beyond that, your guess is as good as the Atlanta Convention and Visitor Bureau’s, and mine. The Ressler Group, hastily erecting Gulch World across the street ahead of the World Cup, would appreciate getting clued in.

CNN Center, especially from the outside, was never a feast for the eyes. But the fear going forward, given Underground Atlanta, Civic Center/SciTrek, and the modernist office emporium peers Peachtree Center and The Summit Building all a stone’s throw away, is that Post-CNN Center will become another of downtown’s necklace of increasingly desolate eyesores.

Josh Harris is keeping tabs, along with present-day Hawks owner Tony and the Ressler clan, too. The 76ers owner is banking on breaking away from the longtime South Broad sporting complex to build a new, totally (wink) privately-funded (nod) arena for his NBA team, nestled east of City Hall and not far the Philly’s big riverfront.

76 Place at Market East, as is currently dubbed, would also be situated amid Philadelphia’s historic tourist attractions, and the city’s Chinatown district, drawing the ire of preservationists and gentrification fighters alike. It would also be chained to its neighbor, a modernist retail enclave built just two years after Atlanta’s troubled Omni International.

The difference with The Gallery was that it connected a couple of Philly’s cherished multi-level retail stores (think of the old Rich’s here), with their heydays from decades gone by, at least until they all got Macy’d out of existence. The intervening mall shops and food court devolved to have truant tweens as its target market (how I miss City Blue, the hood-gear shop where I got my first Falcons leather ball cap). Latter efforts to convert the whole place into a casino/hotel spot fell flat.

Whatever the troubles of the day were in its nascency, The Gallery always had some semblance of historic nearby retail, tourism and office activity and pedestrian traffic, at least during conventional working hours, not built up out of whole cloth at once as Cousins intended with the Omni complex.

Immediately subject to the economic woes of the 1970s upon opening, both The Gallery (now refashioned as the Fashion District, anchored by fashion-forward Burlington) and Omni International struggled to find and sustain relevancy, to the present day. Can swanky sports arenas breathe resuscitating life into them? Or will Dead Mall Walking become the ball-and-chain dragging their economic vitality down?

Harris still has ample convincing to do to make his arena scheme spring to life. But he knows it helps his cause to have a perennial MVP contender leading a perennial championship contender.

How much of Joel Embiid and the top-line players in coach Doc Rivers’ rotation remains to be seen. Philadelphia (52-28) knows they cannot move in either direction from the 3-seed in the NBA East. After Embiid and the Sixers got smashed at home last night by Jimmy Butler’s heat, they would greatly appreciate Miami having to enter the postseason via the Play-In first.

The Hawks (41-39), meanwhile, enter this home finale in decent enough shape (De’Andre Hunter is upgraded to Questionable). Even better, they have a little something worth playing all-out for.

As an 8-seed, even with another postseason flop at the Kaseya Center, Atlanta could still salvage a rematch with the Bucks, with a Play-In win before this State Farm Arena home crowd. As a 9-seed, like last season, the Hawks would still get a home game, but that’d be an elimination contest before, if successful, having to sew up a spot with a second victory in Toronto. Why win two, when you could just win one?

Victory tonight would also be the first time Atlanta completed three consecutive seasons above the .500 mark since Coach Bud, two years removed from his watershed 60-win season, squeaked by with Dennis and Dwight in 2017 before escaping for Milwaukee. There were seasons, during the Omni and Philips eras alike, where Hawks fans at the corner would scoff at such a meager achievement. These days, we’ll take what we can get. Four wins in a row? Sounds like The Big Mo’. Let’s go!

There is something instructive in the stories of Post-CNN Center’s devolution for Lil’ Nicky Ressler and Hawks PBO poobah Landry Fields. There is value, for a while, in seeing if an underwhelming core can grow into a whelming, contending competitor: “Atlanta, come watch that team that overachieved and almost pulled off something epic that one time!” There is also the risk of attaching oneself to assets of dwindling relevance, and growing obsolescence, until it’s too late to do anything with them.

As noted in pregame threads past, Atlanta’s boosterism-infused developer community does have a storied history of tearing things down before citizens grow too enamored with them just laying around – where have you gone, Union Station? Unfortunately, sometimes, the second act winds up far worse than the first.

Fields and coach Quin Snyder may not be given the grace to kickstart their own version of The Process. But they will have an opportunity this summer to initiate The Recess, reconstituting Atlanta’s youthful but bloated roster, largely built up by a predecessor architect, to make games centered around pass-master Trae Young more functional, savvy and sound at both ends of the floor.

Over at least the next week, current contributors under contract through next year, from Hunter and Bogi Bogdanovic to John Collins and Clint Capela, will be proving their value as either essential fixtures to keep around, or ornamental items to sell before they turn to pricey scrap.

We are blessed to have a lot more outwardly open Hawks fans, and reasons to live-work-play downtown, than we had decades ago. The growing legion of Hawks fans will wait, dutifully, through this offseason, much as they did for years wolfing down Gorin’s Ice Cream before games at the old CNN Center food court. They understand, as time becomes of the essence, there’s little point in waiting for things to totally melt down.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

This week in 1985. Not sure this happens without a newly minted Slam Dunk Contest winner mere weeks before.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/04/12/Turner-announces-Omni-deal/1848482130000/

Quote

'TBS and the city of Atlanta both have grown tremendously over the past decade, and it is only fitting that we move into the feature hand in hand,' said Turner in a prepared statement.

"THIS WAS CNN."

https://saportareport.com/goodbye-cnn-center/columnists/guestcolumn/derek/

~lw3

[shakes]

I'm no math guy, but I think if we win either of the next two games we finish 8th.  thought I heard we have the tie breaker over the Raptors.

[lethalweapon3]

The Sixers' Boo-Boo Report submittal isn't due until 12:30 PM Eastern, so we'll have to see what they have in mind. The Blue Coats of Delaware just won the G-League Finals last night, so I'm not sure Mac McLung and Jaden Springer Career Night is in the works. We do know at least one guy won't be out here hunting for the Michael Jordan Trophy.

De'Andre Hunter (bruised knee bone/muscle strain) remains Questionable pregame, which is more encouraging than being already Out.

~lw3

[Guest]

Excellent memories of the Omni/CNN Center.  I moved to Atlanta in the fall of 1977 and the structure was still in its "marvel" phase of excitement.  I remember when the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame asked Ted Turner to house their new museum in the Omni.  He declined because he felt it might detract from his near religious zeal over "Gone with the Wind" which, at the time, ran non-stop, 24/7 at the theater in the Omni.  Bad move, says Cleveland, as it stole the museum and it's now iconic status.

Let's keep the momentum going tonight.  Finish the season strong (or not, and get a better draft choice... decisions, decisions)!

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

 

[lethalweapon3]

"Jaden! Jaden! Jaden!"

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

James Harden (B2B injury recovery, Achilles), Starry ad cameo Tyrese Maxey (stiff neck), and P.J. Tucker (tight calf) are all joining Embiid as Out for today (and probably their final contest, too). De'Anthony Melton (tight calf) is Doubtful, while Goldfish ad co-star Tobi Harris (B2B injury recovery, hip) is Questionable.

G-League Finals MVP Jaden Springer is also Questionable with a sprained ankle, as yours would be, too, if you just put up 21-and-9 in a closeout game against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers last night.

No change on the Hawks' side of the Boo-Boo Report.

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

 

Hawks win by 50?

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Crazy FANDUEL bet of the night

• Murray 8+ assists
• Bey 3+ made 3s
• Collins 3+ made 3s

$20 to win $2,054

 

In hindsight, I should've reduced the made 3s for Collins to 2.

Good start for Collins though.  I just need Murray to pick up his assists when playing with the bench, preferably with them going to Bey for some 3s.

[terrell]

Hawks cant stop anybody from scoring... Doesnt matter who's playing....

[TheNorthCydeRises]

2 minutes ago, terrell said:

Hawks cant stop anybody from scoring... Doesnt matter who's playing....

 

I said that last game.

It just doesn't matter.

 

We could be playing the 13 win Hawks back in 2004, and they'll score on us.

[JayBirdHawk]

[terrell]

Wouldn’t be a Hawks game if we didn’t come out flat against the third string of our opponent...... smh

[terrell]

OO from 3 after a timeout? 

Get hot Bey!!

Edited April 8, 2023 by terrell

[JayBirdHawk]

Bey3 x2.

Pitiful defensive effort.

[terrell]

Trae didnt really want to get that shot off.. lol

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by terrell

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Nice shot Trae.  Just .2 too late.