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Atlanta Hawks: 5 reasons they won’t make the playoffs in 2017-18

By Brendan Galella

Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images /
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(Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /

3. No help from the schedule

Among the primary goals set by the NBA this summer were fewer games on consecutive nights and better road trip schedules for all teams in the league.

For the Atlanta Hawks, the team won’t be able to showcase the newly renovated Philips Arena until the sixth game of the season.

Atlanta plays its first five games of the 2017-18 campaign on the road, the longest stretch to begin the year of any team in the league. Included in the five-game trip are contests in Brooklyn and Miami on consecutive nights.

Following the All-Star break, Atlanta has its toughest stretch of games in mid-to-late March, playing away games six consecutive times, with stops in Milwaukee, Utah, Sacramento, Golden State, Houston and Minnesota.

Facing an uphill battle immediately, the Hawks could easily falter early in the season and by the time the team begins to click, a six-game road trip in March could ultimately end their hopes for the postseason.

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