{"id":716517,"date":"2026-04-23T11:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T11:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716517\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T11:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T11:39:20","slug":"hawks-bring-playoff-energy-back-to-atlanta-with-sold-out-buzz-giveaways-and-soulja-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716517\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawks bring playoff energy back to Atlanta with sold-out buzz, giveaways and Soulja Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Playoff basketball returns to State Farm Arena on Thursday night as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/atlanta\/tag\/atlanta-hawks\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Atlanta Hawks<\/a>\u00a0host the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their first-round series. The best-of-seven matchup is tied 1-1, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. in Atlanta. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The game marks the Hawks&#8217; first home game of the series after Atlanta evened things up with a 107-106 win over New York on Monday night. For fans, the night is expected to be about more than basketball.<\/p>\n<p>The Hawks announced a playoff entertainment lineup that includes Atlanta rapper Soulja Boy, who is set to headline the halftime show. Pastor Troy is also scheduled to perform during a break in game action, while Macon-native Mike Clark Jr. is set to perform the national anthem before tipoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gettyimages-2272431986.jpg#.jpeg\" alt=\"Atlanta Hawks v New York Knicks - Game Two \" height=\"458\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  NEW YORK, NEW YORK &#8211; APRIL 20: CJ McCollum #3 of the Atlanta Hawks drives against Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks during game two of the Eastern Conference first round  NBA playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 20, 2026 in New York City.<\/p>\n<p>                Al Bello \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>All fans in attendance will also receive a free red 2026 Hawks playoff T-shirt while supplies last. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The team is also leaning into the playoff atmosphere with limited-time food items inside the arena, including &#8220;Chicken Fried&#8221; ribs, a Triple Double chicken quesadilla, and a chocolate-dipped pretzel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The added menu items are part of the broader push to turn the first home playoff game into a full fan experience.<\/p>\n<p>That energy is something the Hawks hope translates into a home-court edge as the series shifts to Atlanta. Thursday&#8217;s matchup is one of two first-round games scheduled at State Farm Arena, with Game 4 set for Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Playoff basketball returns to State Farm Arena on Thursday night as the Atlanta Hawks\u00a0host the New York Knicks&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[208,7,6,11,191,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-716517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-playoffs","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116453833325737637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}