February 6, 2015
Not many people would have predicted an early February game between the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors would be pitting the two best teams in basketball against each other. However, that’s how the basketball season has played out. Golden State enters the Friday night game with a record of 39-8 and Atlanta enters with a record of 41-9. Heading into the game, both teams are the only two in the NBA to still have single digit losses.
The average price for the game is currently $222.52 with a get-in price of $80. Over the past five seasons, the game against Golden State will be one of the most expensive to be held at Philips Arena. Currently the game has the 10th most expensive average in Atlanta since 2010, but is tied for the second most expensive get-in price.
[embedit cf="HTML1"]
Of the other top nine games, five involved a team with LeBron James. Four of those game came from the years 2011-2014, when James was a member of the Miami Heat. Atlanta and Miami were typically the top two teams in the Southeast division, which increased interest in their matchups. The other game involving came this past December with James as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who remain the biggest road draw in the NBA this season.
The other three games featured teams from the Western Conference. Two of which came against the Los Angeles Lakers, once in 2010 and once in 2013. The 2010 game against the Lakers was the most expensive game to be held at Philips Arena with an average price of $359.31.
Even as two of the games have occurred this season (the other was a January 23 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder), the game against the Warriors seems to be the first of which when the Hawks are just as big of a draw as the opposition.
At different points of the season, both Atlanta and Golden State had win streaks of at least 16 games. Golden State had a 16-game win streak from November 13 to December 14. Atlanta just recently had their 19-game win streak snapped, which lasted from December 27 to January 31.
Both teams will still have a lot of work to do in order to set a rematch in the NBA Finals, but it would appear at this point of the season that matchup would be the favorite to happen. High prices on the secondary market suggest fans in Atlanta also hope that will be the case.
