PHILADELPHIA — The hottest shooter in the league has gone ice cold.
And the Nets’ playoff hopes in a do-or-die Game 5 versus the Sixers may hinge on getting Joe Harris heated back up.
“It’s just a matter of time,” Kenny Atkinson said. “I used to watch this in baseball all the time. The star hitter is hitting .180, and then all of a sudden there’s a game where he goes 5-for-6. He will regress back to the mean. I hope it happens next game.”
If the Nets lose Tuesday there won’t be a next game until next season.
They’ve dropped three straight to come into Wells Fargo Center down 3-1. And it’s no coincidence Harris — who led the NBA in 3-point shooting this season at 47.4 percent — has struggled in all three.
Harris had 13 points in the Game 1 win, shooting 5-of-7 overall and 3-of-4 from behind the arc. But since? He’s averaged just 7.3 points on 28 percent shooting, and missed all 12 of his 3-pointers.
He hadn’t gone three straight games without hitting from deep since January 2017, heaping the pressure on Harris’ shoulders.
“Yeah, I certainly feel it,” Harris said. “When you’re going through a game and you miss your first couple, you definitely put a little bit of added pressure on yourself. And there is that sense of frustration.
“You got to block it out and realize the goal of what I’m trying to do is just get open shots. If I can get a clean look, I do feel confident that it’s going to go in. You let however many makes you had in the past put to the side; you can’t let it build on itself and dwell on it.”
Harris got a clean look from the right wing with 5:37 left in Game 4 after the 76ers blew a switch. It could’ve put the Nets up 103-94, but he missed and they coughed up an 18-8 run to blow the game.
For the Nets, a key is finding him on the break.
“In the half-court they’ve done a good job of denying and corralling him,” Caris LeVert said. “But in transition, it’s every man for himself out there. We can get him going in those situations.”
Granted, Harris’ woes haven’t come in a vacuum. The Nets were 36-21 (.632) when he cracked double-figures, but just 5-14 when he didn’t and 1-5 when he sat. Once the 76ers realized his importance, they changed their game plan to take him away.
“He’s a high priority to our offense, and teams know that so they’re doing a good job trying to eliminate him,” D’Angelo Russell said. “You keep finding him. When he’s open, keep making that pass, keep trusting it. … I’m not worried about him. He’s the 3-pointer leader. So he’ll be all right.”
Ed Davis (ankle) was limited in practice, and is questionable.
Nets scout Gianluca Pascucci is reportedly drawing interest from Olimpia Milano, trying to lure him back to Italy as managing director according to La Prealpina.