Sports Radio Interviews

The Hawks Are Actually Hosting A Playoff Series

It’s scary to think that the last time the Hawks were consistently good was when in the late 90′s with Lenny Wilkens was coaching the team led by Steve Smith, Dikembe Mutombo, and Mookie Blaylock.  As hard as Billy Knight tried to screw up this team by passing up Chris Paul and Deron Williams in favor of Marvin Williams and passing up Brandon Roy for Shelden Williams, the Hawks still have a glut of good young talent and should be the favorites in their first round series with the Miami Heat.

Coach Mike Woodson joined WCNN to discuss the first round match-up with the Heat, his relationship with Josh Smith, and the underrated Joe Johnson.

What kind of season Joe Johnson has had and the kind of player he is:

“He’s had a great year. When I look at all-star players and players that play at a high level, I look at the surrounding parties that play with him. Ever since Joe’s come on board he’s made players around him better and he’s gotten better. People fail to realize that when we got Joe he was a young player as well who hadn’t really reached his potential, and he’s still young, he’s still a young guy that’s still got room for improvement that can easily get better. He’s made guys around him better and he’s gotten players playing at a high level just like he’s playing each and every night and that has caused us to win 47 games so far this season.”

Is too much made of the relationship between him and Josh Smith:

“I think so. I think, from a coaching standpoint, I know exactly where Josh Smith and Mike Woodson stand.” Where is that? “A good coaching relationship. Like I’ve said all along, he’s paid to play and I’m paid to coach and sometimes you bump heads and he’s not the only player that I’ve bumped heads with. I mean, it happens in coaching. But the bottom line is, at the end of the day, he and I are on the same page, we’re fighting for the same thing and sometimes I think the media somewhat blows things out of proportion. The bottom line is that I’m going to coach to the best of my ability and I expect Josh Smith to play to a high level to help us win.”

What are the main differences between the playoffs and the regular season and why does it look different?

“Because everything tends to speed up. And then when you get in a seven game series you won’t get to a point where you can trick people. After the first couple of games, they know exactly what you’re doing and we know exactly what they’re doing. Now it comes down to who wants it the most. Loose balls, key rebounds, key stops, executing offensively, there are a lot of things that come into play when we talk about playoff basketball. You can’t afford to take a possession off on either end, or that possession can come back to haunt you at the end of the game and you’re going to go home with a loss if you don’t handle your business.”

Listen to Mike Woodson on WCNN in Atlanta with Buck and Kincade

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Dwayne Wade, Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Mike Woodson, NBA Playoffs, WCNN