Joe Cool, Joe Jesus, Joe Johnson, whatever you want to call him, he does it again.
With the Nets trailing most of Sunday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, the Nets turned to Joe Johnson on their final possession, and Johnson delivered, diving into the lane and knocking down the layup.
The play was made possible by a crucial Jason Kidd call to take out all of his big men and play a super-spread offense, with five shooters hanging out on the perimeter. The extra space, especially in crunch time when players don’t like leaving shooters, gave Johnson a wide open lane to work with once he’d gotten past his defender.
In October, Johnson told me this about crunch time: “Nobody wants their man to make the shot at this point in the game. So I know nobody’s leaving.”
The Nets held on to force overtime and eventually win the game, 107-104.
