Examining the Atlanta Hawks schedule in the month of December.

The Atlanta Hawks have a relatively easy opening to their season in the month of October. Then they can really hurt their playoff chances with their November schedule. However, if this team is going to make noise at the end of the season then they need to make every post that they can in this month a winner.

The Hawks start the month at home, firstly taking on the Denver Nuggets and then the up-and-coming OKC Thunder. They have eight home games for the month and six away games. Five of the six away games start after his game where the Hawks play a two-game and then a three-game stretch on the road, broken up by a single home game against the Chicago Bulls.

The second half of the month involves only six games, with five of them being at State Farm Arena. In a nicer section of the schedule, five of the six away games that the Hawks play are against Eastern Conference opponents. The Western Conference opponent that they face on the road is the Memphis Grizzlies, one of only two games on the road against playoff teams from last season.

The nuts and bolts of the December schedule for the Atlanta Hawks.

As mentioned earlier, the Hawks play eight games at home and six games on the road. They play against ten Eastern Conference teams and four Western Conference teams. On top of that, the Hawks only play one back-to-back for the month. These are the last two games of the month, an away game against the Indiana Pacers and then they return home to face the Brooklyn Nets.

The Hawks only face six playoff teams from last season during the month. They start the month against the Denver Nuggets and also play the Memphis Grizzlies on the road. They also play the Brooklyn Nets twice, once at the start of the month on the road and then one at the end of the month at State Farm Arena.

The other playoff team from last season that the Hawks play is the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls caught the Hawks at one of the worst times last season and got two free wins. The Hawks will be looking to make amends this season and hopefully using this to help propel themselves up the standings. Look for Dejounte Murray to lock up Zach LaVine in this one.

For the Atlanta Hawks to be a contender next season they need to end the month with a 10-4 record. Added to the 5-2 record of October and hopefully the 9-6 record of November, the Hawks should be traveling around 24-12 which will see them at the top of the Eastern Conference, ready for an interesting month of January.