Say one thing about Knicks' head coach Mike Woodson, he's very loyal to his veterans -- perhaps sometimes to a fault.

The long-time coach appreciates the virtues of having a veteran squad, especially since his previous team, the Atlanta Hawks, was a team full of youth, inexperience, sometimes outlandish behavior -- and not to mention early playoff exits.

But with this current batch of Knicks -- a team that's amongst the oldest in league history -- how can anyone blame Woodson for sticking to his guns and not wanting to scale back the amount of playing time his vets are given? It's hard for Woodson to tell someone like Jason Kidd to sit and let someone else take his minutes, no matter that the future Hall of Famer hasn't scored since J.R. Smith was actually good. It's especially difficult for Woodson to dole out extra minutes to a rookie -- no matter how exceptional that rookie has played when given the opportunity.

During Woodson's 15-minute conference call today, the coach stood staunchly behind the struggling Kidd, while sounding very tepid about the prospect of giving 29-year old rookie Chris Copeland extra playing time, following Copeland's career-best postseason performance in last night's 85-75 win over the Indiana Pacers, in Game 5.

“We gotta let this play out. When you’re in playoff basketball and struggling to score the basketball you have to do a lot of mixing and matching to find what works," Woodson said, not necessarily a ringing endorsement for the rookie. "If he’s playing well and doing what’s asked of him on the floor, sure he can get more minutes."

The question remains, however, whether Woodson would be willing to sacrifice Kidd's minutes -- or any other struggling veteran, for that matter -- for more Copeland? At first blush, it sounded as if Woodson would actually consider it when asked if he's worried about perhaps bruising veteran egos if they sat more.

"Those guys just have to be ready to play. ... It's all about winning," Woodson reasoned.

But soon after, the coach was back to waving the pom-poms for Kidd, sounding as if the aging point guard will always get the benefit of the doubt with him.

“Jason is going through a tough stretch, but I absolutely have confidence in putting him on the floor. Our lead [last night] increased with him on the floor, but all everyone is so focused on is him making a shot," Woodson said. "Eventually, he’s going to make a big shot. But it’s more than that. It’s also his intangibles that he brings that help us. I’ll never be hesitant of putting him in the game. He’s a big part of what we’re doing and what we’ve done."

Copeland was a huge part of last night's win, as he tallied 13 points in 20 minutes of action. His biggest impact came in the pivotal third quarter when he had five points (including a big 3-pointer), two rebounds, and an assist, as the Knicks stretched a six-point halftime lead to 10 points at the start of the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Kidd finished scoreless again for the ninth-straight game, as the only stat credited next to his name during his five minutes of action was one missed shot -- an open layup. Kidd is now 0-of-17, including 0-of-10 on 3s during this stretch, and contrary to Woodson's claims, Kidd didn't offer much in the way of intangibles either.

Perhaps it's time for Woodson to let the kid play, otherwise, his blind loyalty (i.e. stubbornness) could ultimately be a major reason why the No. 2 seeded Knicks never got the shot at a much-anticipated matchup with the defending champs.