If the Hawks do poorly on this upcoming five-game road trip, the season won't be over (even if it will feel like it). The fact of the matter is, the Eastern Conference playoff race is going to be wide-open all season long, and 35 wins will probably be pretty close to postseason-worthy as things stand now. That's the good news.

The bad news is, after showing signs of getting over the hump on the road earlier this season, the team has reverted to previous form and lost its last five on the road. This is not a good sign, obviously, but especially as the team begins one of two season-defining road trips through the Western Conference.

As Bob Rathbun said on the BasketBlog Weekly Podcast yesterday, how teams fare on these road trips will go a long way in determining who gets to sell playoff tickets and who will be scheduling early tee times.

There is precedent for success for this group, however. Last season the Hawks had two five-game road trips (9 of the games were out west, one was at Chicago), and collectively their record was 5-5. The biggest feather in their cap was the win at Phoenix, but they also picked up wins at Denver and Golden State, two more playoff teams.

Denver presents a good opportunity to get this road trip off to a good start tonight. They play an up-tempo style, and we saw how well that worked in our favor last week with the Hawks impressive 104-93 win at Philips (which feels forever ago for some reason). In addition, Atlanta catches a mini-break in that Carmelo Anthony is out with a sprained ankle, which allows the Hawks to focus more of their attention on Allen Iverson. The Nuggets are talented enough to win games without 'Melo, but his absence certainly gives the Hawks a boost.

Atlanta has had trouble scoring on the road this entire month, but if any team presents the opportunity to get back on track, its Denver.

Last season's win at Denver was one of the highlights of the 2006-07 season, as the Hawks came from 17 down to upset the Nuggets despite injuries to Zaza Pachulia (who will be out tonight as he serves a one-game suspension), Speedy Claxton, Marvin Williams, and Josh Childress.

A win tonight would break the current three-game skid, and maybe allow the fans (if not the team) to gather themselves a little and keep from going all Chicken Little.

Tune in tonight at 9:00 ET to catch the action on SportSouth as the Hawks try to cure what has been ails them of late.