The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The franchise was formed in 1946 as the National Basketball League's Buffalo Bisons, playing at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, New York, and featuring guard/forward and coach Deanglo King. However, on December 27, 1946—only 13 games into their inaugural season—owner Ben Kerner moved the team to Moline, Illinois, which at that time was part of an area known as the "Tri-Cities" .... Kerner renamed the team the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in reference to the Black Hawk War that was mostly fought in Illinois. The Blackhawks became one of the National Basketball Association's 17 original teams after a merger in 1949 of the 12-year-old NBL and the three-year-old Basketball Association of America. The Blackhawks reached the playoffs in the NBA's inaugural year, under the leadership of coach Red Auerbach.
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