Two or three years ago, coach Mike Woodson developed what the Hawks call "the Nash rule" to dictate how it would defend Steve Nash on the pick-and-roll.

"He dissected people off the pick-and-roll," Woodson said Thursday. "Nobody knew how to play him, and people still don't know how to play him. We struggle to play him because he's so good at it."

Woodson wouldn't divulge the specifics of it, but said that the team now uses the Nash rule against "anybody that's a pick-and-roll player."