Boston —- Mike Woodson had no idea his point guard was going to tee off on the Boston fans before Wednesday's Game 2 of this Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. He would have stopped Mike Bibby before he got started.

But Woodson, like most of the folks in Boston, learned of Bibby's comments —- he blasted the Celtics fans for being "fair-weather" followers and "bandwagon jumpers" —- on the local news.

"I caught it on the news when I woke up from my nap [Tuesday evening]," the Hawks coach said. "You can't undo it, though. So you've got to go out there and play."

The Hawks did just that Wednesday night, with the crowd at TD Banknorth Garden riding Bibby the entire way.

"There's no doubt we've got his back," Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson said. "They [were] tough on him, but that's part of it. He stepped up and said what he felt, and with us being his teammates, we have to step up and have his back."

Woodson said he would have used a different method to make his point. But by no means would he have tossed gasoline onto the fire of 18,624 that awaited Bibby on Wednesday.

"You still have to win a game here [in Boston] if you're going to get out of this series," Woodson said. "I don't care how you cut it, you've got to win four games to go to the next round.

"And Mike Bibby, he's been around. Mike Bibby's a very smart young man. He said what he said. There's nothing you can do about that. It's out there now."

Pierce busted up in first quarter

Celtics captain Paul Pierce had to be taken to the locker room with a lower back strain just three minutes into the game.

He took a hard fall on a drive to the basket and was fouled by Johnson, and then Josh Smith fell on top of him. Smith tried to block the shot from the weakside but was late. Pierce didn't come back to the bench until there was 4:03 to play in the quarter. He played throughout the second quarter but went back to the locker room after picking up his third foul with 3:18 to play before halftime.

Opposite sides in feud share row

How's this for ironic? The two men at the center of the controversy that became the Hawks' ownership feud, general manager Billy Knight and part owner Steve Belkin, sat roughly 15 seats apart from each other in the same row Wednesday.

Knight sat on one end of the row in Section 140 and Belkin on the other. Knight famously refused to shake Belkin's hand in a courthouse here in the summer of 2005 during a hearing on the Hawks' ownership dispute.

Hawks wanted to run with a purpose

The first words under offense on the dry erase board in the Hawks' locker said it all —- Run with a purpose.

"We've talked about it the last two days," Smith said. "We've got about a seven-second window from the time the ball either comes out of the net or off the rim to get it up the floor while they are transitioning from offense to defense. We have to focus on those seven seconds."

Etc.

Seats are still available for Games 3 and 4 in the series on Saturday and Monday at Philips Arena, according to Ticketmaster.