Joe Johnson’s Shooting
Joe Johnson swore the boos didn’t get to him.
“No, it didn’t affect me,” Johnson said at the podium following the Nets loss. “I pretty much expected it.”
Johnson touched the ball 79 times in the 99-92 defeat, so once you include his name announcement in the starting lineup, it’s safe to say he was booed 80 times at Philips Arena Sunday night. The Atlanta Hawks crowd was equal parts raucous for their team and angry at Johnson, for reasons unclear: Johnson was a six-time All-Star in Atlanta, led them to the playoffs in five straight seasons, signed a contract offered to him by the team, and in the end was traded in the deal that kicked off a Hawks rebuild leading to their current status as a 60-win Eastern Conference behemoth.
Still, the booing worked, even if it didn’t. Johnson missed all six of his three-point attempts, the last a wide-open corner three with 68 seconds left that would’ve cut Atlanta’s lead to 95-92, and only made one shot outside of eight feet all night.
In Brooklyn’s final playoff game two years ago, Johnson had a similar, albeit worse, night, shooting 2-14 in a 99-93 Game 7 loss to the Chicago Bulls. Johnson suffered plantar fasciitis in that game and it was a series-clincher, so the circumstances were a bit different. but if the Nets will only go as far as Deron Williams leads them, it’s still Joe Johnson’s role to close the door.
