Here are three thoughts on the Nets’ 103-92 loss to the Grizzlies Wednesday night:
1. With Deron Williams sidelined with a rib injury, the Nets are leaning more heavily on Joe Johnson than ever before, and the effects are showing.
In eight January games, Johnson is averaging 38.4 minutes per game, scoring 14.8 points while shooting 37.4 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from 3-point range, including going a combined 7-for-25 in the Nets’ two most recent.
Unlike two years ago, when the Nets had Johnson playing next to Gerald Wallace, or last year, where he was next to Shaun Livingston and Paul Pierce, the Nets need Johnson to take on the top perimeter defensive assignment every single night this season.
That strain plus the minutes load plus the ability defenses have to key on him with Williams sidelined is contributing to Johnson getting worn down.
When asked after the game about it, Johnson said he’s not 100 percent — quickly adding no one is at 100 percent halfway through the season. Nets coach Lionel Hollins admitted the obvious: He would like to cut Johnson’s minutes, but he doesn’t have many ways to do so.
“I’m not concerned about it, but it’s certainly a real possibility,” Hollins said. “This is the league … what are we going to do? We can play Joe for 26 minutes, but guys behind aren’t stepping up and playing better.
“I could sit there and play other guys, but if I do that and it doesn’t work out, then I have to go back to the guys we’re counting on. That’s basketball, and if you look around the league, there are a lot of guys playing a lot of minutes. It’s that time of the season.
“We’re in the middle of January, and guys are a little bit tired. That’s the way it goes.”
2. Jarrett Jack has gotten trigger-happy from 3-point range, shooting at least three in each of the past three games and four of the past six – after taking three or more just three times prior.
I asked Jack about this after the game, and he simply said it was a matter of taking what the defense gives him and trying to be a little more aggressive with his offense. Here’s the problem, though: Jack has been terrible at shooting 3-pointers.
After going 0-for-3 against the Grizzlies, Jack is now 2-for-23 (8.7 percent) from 3-point range in January, dropping him to 16.7 percent this season. Jack seems like he’s helping the Nets according to the eye test, but is a decidedly negative influence according to virtually every advanced metric.
In short, despite how much fans have come to loathe him, the Nets truly suffer without Williams, and his absence is as big a reason as any why this team is currently in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, six of which he played basically no part in.
3. Hey, but Bojan Bogdanovic knocked down a 3-pointer Wednesday, his first in 18 attempts and first since Dec. 23. Bogdanovic finished the game in double-figures for a third straight game since being reinserted into the starting lineup, finishing with 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting.
Bogdanovic is 1-for-8 from 3-point range during that span, but he’s shooting 14-for-28 overall, giving the team a desperately needed scoring boost. Sergey Karasev played well overall in his place, but was not a scoring threat, often unwilling to take an open shot.
If Bogdanovic can start knocking down 3-pointers, it would be a big benefit.