When the NBA releases each team's schedule, fans are quick to identify the crucial stretches of games for their teams; some for their upside, and others for their difficulties. In the case of the Atlanta Hawks, their most notable stretch of games is undoubtedly their last six games of the season. They begin their gauntlet against the Orlando Magic, before they travel to New York to play both the Knicks and the Nets, then a back-to-back series with Cleveland, before finally closing their season out against their division rival, the Miami Heat.
All five of these teams look to compete and emerge as the newest contender in a wide-open Eastern Conference. Atlanta hopes to be one of those teams to compete as well. While this crucial end-of-season stretch could turn costly for an Atlanta Hawks team with many questions surrounding their identity, it might be exactly what the Hawks need to be prepared for a postseason run.
There's a lot of promise surrounding Atlanta this offseason. With their newest pickups of Kristaps Porzingis & Nickeil Alexander-Walker, combined with their young core poised to break out, Hawks fans have every reason to be optimistic about this upcoming season. But their competitors in the East have the talent to match, with three of those teams being ranked as the preseason top four seeds in the East.
Atlanta's closing stretch will prepare the club for the postseason
To the average fan, this stretch for the Atlanta Hawks seems detrimental. They point towards the physical toll that these back-to-back games against top competitors can have on the players, and the momentum shift that a late-season collapse could have on the playoffs and their seeding implications. But others view this six-game stretch as the ideal opportunity to prepare their young, developing players for these playoff environments, enabling them to grasp the concept of playoff basketball before the playoffs even begin.
While this stretch undoubtably carries the risk of being a momentum breaker, it has the same amount of potential to become the ultimate momentum builder for this Hawks team desperate for a resurgence. Five games against the Eastern Conference's most elite teams to close out the season is essentially a preview of what's to come in the playoffs, probably against these same exact teams.
With a Hawks team eager to find their identity this season, this late-season stretch grants the Hawks a fantastic opportunity to test their roster. This six-game stretch allows the coaching staff to make lineup critiques and playbook changes to cater to these teams that they'll likely see again come playoff time.
So, while it may look like a bitter end on paper for the Atlanta Hawks, it could also be a speed run towards playoff readiness for this young team. Instead of dreading this six-game stretch, Hawks fans should embrace it: the same games that might wear the team down could also be the very ones that propel them into finally emerging out of the East.