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Game 3 of the Hawks’ first-round series against the Heat in Atlanta has been delayed after a “suspicious package” was found outside the stadium. The new tip-off time for the game is expected to be 7:55 p.m. ET.
The package was reportedly located around the Dominique Wilkins statue outside State Farm Arena.
With 50 minutes to go until the original tip-off time of 7:15, no fans had entered the stadium yet. Additionally, police arrived on the scene to investigate the situation.
State Farm Arena is expected to have a full capacity crowd, and fans who were going to enter the stadium near where the package was found were told to use a different entrance, according to The Athletic’s Chris Kirchner.
State Farm Arena released a statement about the incident:
“Prior to tonight’s Eastern Conference First Round matchup between the Hawks and Miami Heat, a suspicious package was found outside gate 2 of State Farm Arena. Out of an abundance of caution, Gates 1, 2, and 3 were temporarily closed by the Atlanta Police Department, K-9 units and Arena security worked to clear the area and investigate the contents of the package. The contents of the package were not found to be explosive, and the package was removed safely by the Atlanta Bomb Squad.”
When the game does begin, the Hawks will try and start a comeback down 2–0 in the series. So far, Miami has won the first two games by double digits as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
