Hollinger makes a valid point about Woodson

[evildallas]

Sitting Joe so long is something our team didn't have the luxury to do. I don't think it would have changed the outcome on Wednesday except keep the Hawks closer longer. The Celtics were just too hot. Still I think it is a valid observation of something that a lot of us have complained about all year.

That foul became huge because of an unnecessarily conservative reaction by Hawks coach Mike Woodson. Johnson played only 13:16 in the first half even though he has one of the lowest foul rates in basketball -- he averaged only 2.01 fouls per 40 minutes in the regular season. Johnson didn't pick up another foul the rest of the night and finished with two.

After the charge, Johnson sat out for a stretch of 9:25, during which the Celtics extended a three-point lead to 13 points. He came back in with 1:53 left in the half, at which time a 12-point lead jumped to 15 at the break.

This is straight out of the Larry Brown school of foul-trouble conservatism -- not surprising since Woodson was Brown's assistant in Detroit and has been proudly wearing his championship ring all series. Indeed, Al Horford and Josh Smith also sat out the final minute of the first half with two fouls, just as they had done for the final three and a half minutes of the first half in Game 4.

full article

Dime expands on the subject

Lesson for game six: unless he

[HoopsGuru25]

I know Woodson is clearly incompetent(he did the exact same things in huge road games down the stretch against NJ and Indy)but why doesn't some one on the coaching staff remind him of how dumb this rule is? Do they not notice this while watching the film? Do they realize that the Hawks are the only team in the entire NBA to sit a player with 2 fouls for the rest of the half? They need to get rid of the entire coaching staff as soon as we're done playing.

[evildallas]

They need to get rid of the entire coaching staff as soon as we're done playing.

No argument from me. I've been unimpressed with the entire staff in many ways.

[Rip2137]

I think there was a reason the ENTIRE coaching staff tried to jump ship in te offseason. I think that Woodson doesn't listen to their input enough. Probably only Herb Brown has his ear.

[conleyorbust]

This game is a referendum on Woody. If the team continues to play "Woody Ball", we aren't going to win. We have no chance. The team thrives of blocks, steals, and transition dunks. Playing good fundamental defense and executing well in the half-court is nice and good but that isn't how the Hawks are going to beat the Celtics, if we play at Woody's preferred pace we are immediately putting ourselves at a disadvantage.

Thorpe actually mentioned that in his scouting report for the game and Hollinger had made a note about how conservative Woody's coaching is.