There was a time when you would not consider anyone other than Joe Johnson to take the make-or-break shot.
Yeah, well there was a time when 8-track tapes were the must-have product.
“I haven’t took the game-winner since, I think, early in the year,” Johnson said Saturday after Nets practice in East Rutherford, N.J.
Johnson was the topic du jour after the Nets prepped for Sunday’s game with Utah because of what had happened Friday against Phoenix, a game that will enter Nets annals in the “all-time hideous losses” category. The Nets were up 15 with 5:45 left — and lost, 108-100, in overtime. With a chance to win in regulation, Nets coach Lionel Hollins opted for Jarrett Jack to take the potential game-winner. Jack had two game-winners this season, including Monday against Golden State.
“Why do you think Joe should take the final shot all the time, because he’s been doing it? Tradition?” Hollins said Saturday. “Why you let them tear down that … parking lot to put up a building? You don’t go to fight for that [stuff]. Things change.”
Like having Johnson on the bench, not even on the floor, a move the veteran shooting guard turned small forward turned power forward admitted felt “strange.”
“I knew Jarrett was going to shoot the ball,” Hollins said. “We could have put [in] four people in the stands. Jarrett was going to shoot the ball. If I run a pick-and-roll for Jarrett, he’s going to shoot the ball. He got a good shot, and he missed it. It went in and out. If it goes in, you guys aren’t standing here asking me who gets the last shot.”
So the questions were posed to Johnson, who has a stunning history of endgame success throughout his career but came up empty twice this season, including Jan. 5 in an eventual OT loss to Dallas. Against Phoenix, Johnson played 56 seconds of the fourth quarter. He expressed confidence in Hollins’ moves and noted how others built the big lead.
“Cory Jefferson comes in and has an amazing double-double. … He was great. And J-Jack and [Deron Williams] were penetrating and making plays. We had a unit that extended the lead. We couldn’t do that all game,” Johnson said. “[Jack] has been clutch for us all year, made big shots. I thought he got a great look at the end of regulation. I thought it was going in, but he didn’t make it. I’m not bitter. I’m not bitter about none of that. I roll with coach 100 percent.”
Hollins waved off any notion that tendinitis barking in Johnson’s right knee and left ankle had any effect. Johnson, too, stressed he’s fine. Late in an NBA season no one is injury-free.
So that led to another round of why Johnson sat, especially in crunch time.
“Obviously, it feels strange,” Johnson said. “Just from not even being on the floor, being a decoy, yeah, that was a little different.
“It may have been a little puzzling, but it wasn’t to the point where I was [ticked] or I thought he made a bad decision,” said Johnson, who has assumed a far more physically demanding role as a 4 lately.
“He’s fine,” Jack said. “The past few games, he’s been playing out of his natural position, playing the power forward, which I’m sure is very, very new to him. I’m sure it probably hasn’t helped wrestling with those big guys down there down low for 40 minutes a night, that probably could take a toll on you physically.”