1998–99 Atlanta Hawks season

The 1998–99 Atlanta Hawks season was the 50th season for the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association, and their 31st season in Atlanta, Georgia. Due to a lockout, the regular season began on February 5, 1999, and was cut from 82 games to 50.

Season summary

Off-season For the second consecutive season, the Hawks continued to split their home games between the Georgia Dome, and the Alexander Memorial Coliseum. During the off-season, the team signed free agents LaPhonso Ellis, second-year guard Anthony Johnson and re-signed former Hawks forward Grant Long; Ellis would reunite with his former teammate of the Denver Nuggets, 3-time Defensive Player of the Year Dikembe Mutombo.

Regular season With the addition of Ellis and Long, the Hawks got off to a 6–3 start to the regular season, but then lost six of their next nine games, falling to .500 in winning percentage with a 9–9 start to the season. Ellis suffered a hernia injury after 20 games, and was out for the remainder of the season; he was replaced with second-year forward Chris Crawford as the team's starting small forward. However, after holding a 22–17 record as of April 13, 1999, the team posted a seven-game winning streak during that month, and won nine of their final eleven games of the season. The Hawks finished in second place in the Central Division with a 31–19 record, and earned the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference; the team qualified for the NBA playoffs for the seventh consecutive year.

Steve Smith led the Hawks in scoring with 18.7 points per game, while Mookie Blaylock averaged 13.3 points, 5.8 assists and 2.1 steals per game, and led the team with 77 three-point field goals, but only shot .379 in field-goal percentage, and Alan Henderson provided the team with 12.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. In addition, Mutombo provided with 10.8 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game, while Ellis contributed 10.2 points and 5.5 rebounds. Off the bench, Long played a sixth man role, averaging 9.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, while Corbin contributed 7.5 points per game, Crawford, the team's starting small forward, averaged 6.9 points per game, and Johnson provided with 5.0 points and 2.2 assists per game.

Mutombo and Blaylock were both named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, while Mutombo also finished in second place in Defensive Player of the Year voting, behind his former Georgetown University teammate, Alonzo Mourning of the Miami Heat; Smith finished tied in 16th place in Most Valuable Player voting, and head coach Lenny Wilkens finished tied in eighth place in Coach of the Year voting. The Hawks finished 27th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 331,831 at the Georgia Dome, and the Alexander Memorial Coliseum during the regular season, which was the third-lowest in the league.

NBA playoffs In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1999 NBA playoffs, the Hawks faced off against the 5th–seeded Detroit Pistons, who were led by All-Star forward Grant Hill, sixth man Jerry Stackhouse, and Lindsey Hunter. Despite losing Henderson to an eye injury in Game 1, and losing Crawford to a shoulder injury in Game 2, the Hawks won the first two games over the Pistons at home at the Georgia Dome, and took a 2–0 series lead. However, the team lost the next two games on the road, which included a Game 4 loss to the Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills, 103–82. With the series tied at 2–2, the Hawks won Game 5 over the Pistons at home, 87–75 at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum to win in a hard-fought five-game series; Game 5 of the series was played at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum, because the Georgia Dome was booked for a concert.

In the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, the team faced off against the 8th–seeded New York Knicks, a team that featured All-Star center Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, and sixth man Latrell Sprewell. Despite having home-court advantage in the series, the Hawks lost the first two games to the Knicks at the Georgia Dome, before losing the next two games on the road, including a Game 4 loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, 79–66, thus losing the series in a four-game sweep; the Hawks struggled only shooting .316 in field-goal percentage during the series.

The Knicks would become the first #8 seed to advance to the NBA Finals, but would lose to the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the 1999 NBA Finals. This season would also be the last time that the Hawks appeared in the NBA playoffs until the 2007–08 season, as what would follow was an eight-year playoff drought.

Aftermath Following the season, Smith and second-year guard Ed Gray were both traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, while Blaylock was traded to the Golden State Warriors after seven seasons with the Hawks, Long signed as a free agent with the Vancouver Grizzlies, and Tyrone Corbin re-signed with the Sacramento Kings.

Offseason

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 20 Roshown McLeod SF Duke 2 49 Cory Carr SG Texas Tech

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

z - clinched division title y - clinched division title x - clinched playoff spot

Game log

|- align="center" bgcolor="ffbbbb"

Playoffs

| 1 | May 8 | Detroit | W 90–70 | Steve Smith (19) | Dikembe Mutombo (19) | Mookie Blaylock (7) | Georgia Dome20,884 | 1–0 |- | 2 | May 10 | Detroit | W 89–69 | Dikembe Mutombo (28) | Dikembe Mutombo (13) | Mookie Blaylock (6) | Georgia Dome16,377 | 2–0 |- | 3 | May 12 | @ Detroit | L 63–79 | Tyrone Corbin (16) | Dikembe Mutombo (10) | Mookie Blaylock (5) | The Palace of Auburn Hills14,812 | 2–1 |- | 4 | May 14 | @ Detroit | L 82–103 | Steve Smith (21) | Dikembe Mutombo (8) | Corbin, Johnson (4) | The Palace of Auburn Hills16,216 | 2–2 |- | 5 | May 16 | Detroit | W 87–75 | Grant Long (26) | Dikembe Mutombo (18) | Blaylock, Smith (6) | Alexander Memorial Coliseum8,460 | 3–2

| 1 | May 18 | New York | L 92–100 | Chris Crawford (26) | Dikembe Mutombo (13) | Mookie Blaylock (4) | Georgia Dome18,513 | 0–1 |- | 2 | May 20 | New York | L 70–77 | Mookie Blaylock (17) | Dikembe Mutombo (17) | Steve Smith (2) | Georgia Dome22,558 | 0–2 |- | 3 | May 23 | @ New York | L 78–90 | Long, Smith (17) | Dikembe Mutombo (16) | Mookie Blaylock (3) | Madison Square Garden19,763 | 0–3 |- | 4 | May 24 | @ New York | L 66–79 | Steve Smith (14) | Long, Mutombo (11) | three players tied (3) | Madison Square Garden19,763 | 0–4

Player statistics

Season PlayerGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG 48 48 36.7 .379 .307 .758 4.7 5.8 2.1 .2 13.3 47 6 22.7 .391 .319 .650 3.1 0.9 0.7 .1 7.5 42 30 18.7 .431 .333 .814 2.1 .6 .2 .3 6.9 20 20 27.0 .421 .200 .705 5.5 .9 .4 .4 10.2 30 3 11.2 .291 .286 .757 .9 .4 .4 . 4.9 38 37 30.1 .442 .000 .671 6.6 .7 .9 .5 12.5 49 2 18.1 .404 .263 .695 1.5 2.2 .7 .1 5.0 50 13 27.6 .421 .167 .783 5.9 1.1 1.1 .3 9.8 34 0 10.2 .380 .100 .822 1.5 .4 .1 . 4.8 50 50 36.6 .512 . .684 12.2 1.1 .3 2.9 10.8 18 5 10.3 .385 .286 .615 1.2 .9 .2 . 2.2 36 36 36.5 .402 .338 .849 4.2 3.3 1.0 .3 18.7 49 0 10.2 .373 . .356 2.6 .3 .1 .4 1.2 2 0 2.0 .000 . .750 . .5 . . 1.5

Playoffs PlayerGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG 9 9 39.8 .326 .353 .467 4.0 4.0 2.0 0.212.6 9 4 29.8 .417 .261 .750 3.7 1.8 0.7 0.07.7 6 5 20.8 .333 .286 .885 3.2 0.8 0.2 0.29.8 8 0 8.9 .366 .364 .909 1.1 0.5 0.8 0.15.5 1 0 4.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00.0 9 0 12.3 .276 .500 .700 1.0 1.1 0.1 0.12.7 9 9 39.8 .409 .250 .727 8.2 0.9 2.0 0.411.7 6 0 8.2 .524 1.000 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.24.3 9 9 42.2 .563 .702 13.9 1.2 0.6 2.612.6 4 0 3.0 .000 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.0 0.0 9 9 39.6 .353 .273 .907 3.4 3.3 1.6 0.217.3 9 0 7.6 .300 .500 1.0 0.2 0.2 0.10.9 Player statistics citation:

Awards and records Mookie Blaylock, NBA All-Defensive Second Team Dikembe Mutombo, NBA All-Defensive Second Team

Transactions

Trades June 24, 1998 Traded Cory Carr, a 1999 second round draft pick and a 2000 second round draft pick to the Chicago Bulls for Shammond Williams.

January 22, 1999 Traded Christian Laettner to the Detroit Pistons for Scot Pollard and a 1999 first round draft pick.

Free agents January 21, 1999 Signed Jeff Sheppard as a free agent. Signed Anthony Johnson as a free agent. Signed Mark West as a free agent.

January 30, 1999 Signed LaPhonso Ellis as a free agent.

February 1, 1999 Signed Grant Long as a free agent.

February 16, 1999 Waived Jeff Sheppard.

February 19, 1999 Waived Scot Pollard. Waived Shammond Williams.

February 22, 1999 Signed Jeff Sheppard as a free agent.

March 4, 1999 Waived Jeff Sheppard.

March 19, 1999 Signed Jeff Sheppard to the first of two 10-day contracts.

April 8, 1999 Signed Jeff Sheppard to a contract for the rest of the season.

Player transactions citation:

1998–99 Atlanta Hawks season

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