Joe Johnson has been selected as an Eastern Conference All-Star reserve, the NBA announced today.
Johnson was the team’s leading All-Star candidate and the player the team pushed for in the last month, receiving public endorsements from head coach Jason Kidd, as well as teammates Kevin Garnett and Deron Williams.
This marks the seventh time Johnson has made an All-Star team, the last six as the leading scorer of the Atlanta Hawks.
Johnson is the team’s active leading scorer, averaging 15.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 33.7 minutes per game. Interestingly enough, Johnson has actually averaged fewer points per game (14.5) since center Brook Lopez went down for the season with a broken foot.
Johnson had one hot stretch in the middle of January, scoring 20 points in the first quarter three times in a stretch of four games and averaging 24.5 points per game on 51.4 percent shooting for a six-game stretch between January 6th and January 20th. He also broke a franchise record with a 29-point quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers on December 16th.
It’s a questionable decision, considering the other guards Johnson was chosen over, but it was a close race between Johnson, Lance Stephenson, Arron Afflalo, and Kyle Lowry. Stephenson was likely passed over since two teammates (Paul George and Roy Hibbert) made the team. Same for Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. While Afflalo’s numbers are impressive, he’s put them up on a 12-35 Orlando Magic team, which tends to give league voters pause.
