“No, it works,” Johnson said about the system. “It works in the first half, so it should work in the second half. It’s not about the offense. It’s about us not running our sets.
“We just have a tendency to play one on one basketball, and it’s not going to work.”
Johnson, disaffectionately nicknamed “Iso Joe” for his one-on-one brand of basketball in Atlanta, has actually increased his isolation load in Brooklyn. Over 40% of his logged plays this season are either direct isolation plays or isolated post-up plays, according to Synergy Sports Technology. That’s a higher percentage of isolation plays in Brooklyn than in Atlanta last season — less than 35% of Johnson’s logged plays last season were either of the isolation or post-up variety.
The Nets told a tale of two halves offensively against the Knicks. In the first, the Nets scored 48 points, shot 7-12 from beyond the arc, and grabbed eight offensive rebounds. In the slower second half, the Nets scored just 38 points, shooting only 3-13 from three-point range with two offensive rebounds.
“We’re just not running our sets right and we’re not completing them,” Johnson said. “It’s been killing us. We’ve gotta watch some tape, look at the first half and the second half to see what we’re not doing right.”
