Atlanta Hawks Nostalgia: Revisiting the Hawks' 2015 Magical Season

Although the 2013-14 season didn't go as planned, with a season-ending pectoral muscle injury to Al Horford, the Hawks finished with a losing record of 38-44, marking their first losing record since 2008. The Hawks made the playoffs due to the lack of competition in the Eastern Conference. Coming in as the eighth seed, the Hawks took the first-seeded Indian Pacers to seven games and had a few statement wins in this series, even going up 3-2 before losing the last two games.

Former Hawk point guard Jeff Teague had this to say about the series:

"Coach Bud was like, 'Let's just shoot as many threes as we can, and we played five out…We played all small guys, and that was the first time everybody was like, Oh.” Teague continued, "I watched the game back and one of the announcers, Doug Collins, was like this is not a series for Roy Hibbert. That was when a small ball first kicked in"

The Hawks ran a five out offense during this series, making the Pacers defend the perimeter more due to the consistent shooting the Hawks had on the court. Even with the All-Defensive team defender Roy Hibbert on the court, the Pacers struggled, as he was an elite rim protector but too slow to guard on the perimeter, which led to easy baskets due to the Hawks' spacing. Teams have used this strategy against a similar player defensively in Rudy Gobert, who has been a multi-time Defensive Player of the Year, to Teague's point about small ball being used.

The Hawks unveiled on May 1, 2014, that they would bring back a modernized version of the 1970s "Pac-Man" logo. This would come along with the infamous Pac-Man jerseys that the Hawks wore en route to their 60-win first-seeded season and is considered a fan favorite.

To start this season, the Hawks didn't have the best start, as they were looking for an identity as a team through the first 10 games. The Hawks would ultimately realize that to win games as a team, they would have to adapt a more "team first" style of basketball, as they didn't have a definitive go-to superstar player. The game plan would include ball movement and balanced scoring through perimeter shooting and attacking the paint, as well as being active on defense by switching positions to match different offensive schemes. This play style would garner comparisons to the San Antonio Spurs, but was constructed similarly, with Teague being the shifty guard, Korver being a deadly shooter, Carroll being the defensive glue guy, Millsap being the underrated All-Star, and Al Horford being the rock/best player on the team.

Once December arrived, the Hawks began to find their groove, going 11-4 in that month with some memorable wins, including a victory against the Cavaliers and a comeback win against the Clippers. In January, the Hawks made history as the only team to go 17-0 in the month, and they also led the NBA in three-point shooting and assists during that time. To end January, all five starters were named Co-Players of the Month, a feat that had never been achieved before or since, which raised the question, "Is Atlanta a real contender?" from many different sports media outlets.

In an ESPN article from January 2015, there was a question asking how far the Hawks could go in the playoffs that season. In the article, ESPN writers Kevin Arnovitz and Kevin Pelton stated:

"1. What's the biggest reason for the Hawks' success this season?"

Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN.com: "Unselfishness. If that seems a bit precious, it's because virtually every Hawks offensive possession looks like a clinic and every defensive stand is an exercise in timing. You know those four-minute stretches when your favorite team is playing with flawless energy (see the Golden State Warriors)? The Hawks play like that for halves at a time. That energy is more or less fueled by the involvement of all five guys."

Kevin Pelton, ESPN.com: "Depth. The starting lineup is incredibly balanced and loaded with above-average players and the bench has been nearly as good as the starters. Atlanta shows the value in simply never playing a bad player."

By this point, the Hawks had made significant cultural shifts in Atlanta, as many fans started to attend games consistently and were even more passionate than ever. In an ESPN First Take segment, Stephen A. Smith spoke about attending the Hawks game and how fans were coming up to him while doing his clips for SportsCenter for the night, talking about how the Hawks were a contender. At this time, the Hawks had three of their four All-Stars announced after going on this new year's tear and were in talks with the Golden State Warriors for the best team in the league. A week before the All-Star game, Kyle Korver was named as an injury replacement for Dwyane Wade for the Eastern Conference All-Star reserves.

By the time the second half of the season came around, the Hawks had managed to go into the All-Star break with a record of 43-11 and were the second-best team record-wise in the NBA without a true superstar player. To end the season, the Hawks would go 60-22, good enough for the first record in the Eastern Conference. They would put the NBA on notice by doing so, and Head Coach Mike Budenholzer would go on to win Coach of the Year. This would lead to some becoming believers in the team, while others would not take them seriously, and the fan base would believe they had a shot to make a deep postseason run. Let's take a look at a thread of tweets made by Hawks and NBA fans in 2015:

To start the playoffs, the Hawks would take on the Brooklyn Nets, which would see that series go six games as they took on former Hawks star Joe Johnson in the first round. Some memorable moments from that series are when Hawks fans let boo's fly at Johnson every time he touched the ball, DeMarre Carroll scoring 20 or more in four straight games, and Paul Millsap and Al Horford stepping up big despite lingering injuries and would close the Nets out in six games.

In the following round, the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Hawks would face the Washington Wizards in another back-and-forth series that would see the Hawks win in six games. In game one, Wizards All-Star guard John Wall fractured his hand and would still play through the injury. Down-to-the-wire games, specifically, would define the rest of the series. NBA Legend Paul Pierce made an iconic game-winner in game three, where he stated, " I CALLED GAME" after making a stepback shot. In game five, Al Horford would return the favor as he made a game-winning layup in the final seconds, giving the Hawks a 3-2 series lead. In game six, however, the Hawks would go on to win, but not before a controversial and yet again Iconic shot from Pierce as he made a fall-away three that would later be called off as a late shot as the Hawks nearly went to overtime with the Wizards.

The next and final series of that season would see the Hawks take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals in a series that would be a disappointing one to say the least, as the Hawks would be swept in four games. In game one, J.R. Smith would make eight three-pointers that marked a new franchise record. In game two, the Hawks would lose Kyle Korver due to a sprained ankle, ending his season. Al Horford would also get into a scuffle with Matthew Dellavedova, resulting in a flagrant two. In games three and four, LeBron James would go off for nearly a triple-double in both games, effectively ending the series. Carroll also missed part of this series due to injury, and the Hawks just seemingly ran out of gas.

Now that we've revisited a crazy run, where do the Hawks stand in NBA history? Even without a title, they influenced a new playing style with ball movement and versatility without a star. They had a Coach of the Year in Mike Budenholzer and four All-Stars, to go along with a top 10 offense and defense. The sad part of this team is that after this magical season, they would drop off as the team would deal with injuries and see a significant regression, as well as players and coaches leaving the team. This was shocking as the team was knocking at the door for years but couldn't get it done, and started to show age, leading to players leaving for lesser roles on contending teams or chasing money elsewhere due to Hawks ownership not resigning them for big money.

In the summer of 2016, Jeff Teague went to the Indiana Pacers, before coming back to Atlanta in 2020, then went to the Bucks in 2021, where he would help coach Bud win a title, and Horford left for the Boston Celtics, where he would win a championship in 2023. In the summer of 2017, Paul Millsap went to the Denver Nuggets, and Kyle Korver was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the summer of 2018, Dennis Schroder was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder before bouncing around the NBA, and Head Coach Mike Budenholzer left in 2018 to go on and eventually win another Coach of the Year and an NBA Championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. Demarre Carroll would go on to a couple of other playoff teams, including the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, and Houston Rockets, before retiring in 2020. Carroll is now coaching in Phoenix for the Suns Summer League team and is also an Assistant coach for the team.

This team is often looked back on in a laughingstock and one-hit-wonder manner due to the lack of star talent, a massive fall in the postseason, and the number of teams that weren't fully ready to compete that season, which became prominent the following year as the Hawks slipped from 2015's success. However, Hawks fans still look back at this team as one for the ages due to the winning that took place that season.

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