Now that the 2014-15 Hawks schedule has been released, here are nine interesting things to know about ours:
- The Hawks have 21 back-to-back sets.
- Two of the 21 back-to-back sets (Nov. 28-29, Jan. 30-31) have the Hawks at Philips Arena for both games, meaning no travel is involved.
- Of the 19 back-to-back sets that require travel, Atlanta will play on the road on the second night 15 times.
- Despite more back-to-back sets, the Hawks actually have fewer stretches of four games in five nights. Atlanta has just one off day from Nov. 25-29, Jan. 13-17 and March 27-31. Those three occurances are lower than last season's total of four such stretches.
- The Hawks will host three Sunday matinee games (Dec. 7 vs. Denver, Jan. 11 vs. Washington and March 22 vs. San Antonio) as well as a Sunday evening game (Jan. 25 vs. Minnesota). Last year Atlanta did not play a home game on Sunday.
- Each team plays four non-divisional conference opponents just three times. For the Hawks, those teams in 2014-15 are the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics. The Celtics and Pacers were expected because they're the only two intra-conference, non-divisional teams the Hawks saw four times in each of the past two seasons.
- The Brooklyn Nets come to Philips Arena on Jan. 28, 2015 for the first time in 22 months. The two teams did not meet in Atlanta last season because of a scheduling quirk that left the teams' matchup in London as the only Hawks home game of the 2013-14 series.
- Atlanta plays the New York Knicks twice in a row (Nov. 8 & 10), as well as the Orlando Magic back-to-back (Dec. 12-13) and the Milwaukee Bucks back-to-back (Dec. 26-27).
- The Hawks have three home games surrounding Thanksgiving (Nov. 26, 28-29) and three home games surrounding Christmas (Dec. 23, 26 & 30).
Story by Jaryd Wilson