Woodson goes 1-on-1 with J.R.

Woodson goes 1-on-1 with J.R.

Frank Franklin II/AP

 Mike Woodson tries to keep J.R. Smith's emotions in check.

ORLANDO Mike Woodson sat in the bleachers and calmly in full view of the media spoke to J.R. Smith about channeling his energy in a more productive manner while maintaining a professional attitude.

Smith imploded in the final minutes of Tuesdays loss to Indiana and was ejected for throwing Leandro Barbosa to the floor. The NBA announced that Smith would not be suspended and in fact the league downgraded Smith's foul from a Flagrant 2 to a Flagrant 1.

Im always trying to mature my game, my attitude, so its gonna be something I have to keep working on, not even for myself but for my teammates, Smith said on Wednesday.

Smith is an energetic and sometimes volatile player. He can be an asset as a defensive player and 3-point shooter but sometimes his emotions get the best of him and he begins taking bad shots.

My job as a head coach is to make sure guys are on the same page and theyre very professional about how they play, W oodson said. I didnt see the play during the course of the game and when I went back and watched it, I didnt think anything was wrong with it.

I thought (referee) Joey (Crawford), the call that he made, it should have been a double foul. The kid had him locked up and he just threw him off of him. Maybe he did it out of frustration. I probably would have done the same thing, I dont know.

Thats not why I was sitting there talking to J.R. Its a lot other things. Hes just got to be more professional about how he handles things. My job as a coach is to make sure gets there.