There aren’t too many complaints to be had about a 13-9 Atlanta Hawks team, as no one projected them to have another franchise-defining season like last year. But through just over 20 games, the Hawks would like to prove they could compete better on the road and have two quality tests on deck.
On Wednesday, December 9th the Hawks head to Dallas to play the Mavericks then travel to Oklahoma City the following night to play the Thunder. The Mavericks and Thunder are No. 4 and No. 3 respectively in the Western Conference standings, trailing only the undefeated Golden State Warriors and 18-4 San Antonio Spurs.
During Atlanta’s most recent three-game stretch at home, they defeated the Thunder 106-100 at Philips Arena. After losing the following game to the Toronto Raptors by 10, they finished off the struggling Los Angeles Lakers by 13 points to go four games above .500.
As one would expect, tickets to see the Thunder on the secondary market are more expensive than seeing the Mavericks with the star power of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant creating a more popular draw. According to TotallyTickets.com, the average price for the game against the Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena is $74.49 with a get-in price of $10 compared to an average price of $49 with a get-in price of $5 for the Mavericks game at American Airlines Arena.
Just over a week ago, Thunder tickets were over the $100 average ticket price but have been steadily declining as the opening tip approaches. On December 1st, an average ticket price of $104.34 fell to $90.62 by December 5th and then fell further to the aforementioned current price.
The Thunder are certainly playing better ball than the Mavericks, going 7-3 in their last 10 games. After the loss to Atlanta on November 30th the Thunder dropped a road game to the Miami Heat but have won two straight since then. They dispatched the Sacramento Kings by three points and then put a hurting on the Memphis Grizzlies, winning by 37 points on the road.
The Hawks are only 5-5 on the road this season compared to their home record of 8-4. Atlanta has fared well against Western Conference opponents this season, going 6-4.
