AJC.com: Schulz: Playoff win is validation for Woodson

Jeff Schulz provides an informed and nuanced take on the Hawks' head coach:

It doesn’t matter that the Hawks are massive underdogs against LeBron James and the Cavaliers. It doesn’t matter if this series goes four games, five or seven. They won a playoff round. That alone validates a 47-win season.

It also validates Mike Woodson as a head coach.

You won’t hear this from Woodson. The man is overly sensitive. He doesn’t take criticism well. He gets prickly. He lets things that are said or written about him consume him. But the last thing he is going to do now – particularly on the eve of a playoff series – is make himself the story.

But if he’s bubbling over with I-told-you-so, well, he deserves to.

I hope Woodson reads this column and takes it to heart to the same degree as Jon Barry's flippant remarks.