Nets shooting guard Joe Johnson thinks he should be an All-Star again and in his first home game against his former team he showed why, torching Atlanta with a red-hot second-half to lead Brooklyn to a 94-89 victory at Barclays Center.
After suffering through a 4-for-15 performance in his return to Atlanta Wednesday — and largely culpable for Brooklyn’s 109-95 loss — Johnson bounced back last night. He scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half to get some payback.
“I was just taking my time more and really focusing in on what we had to do as a team to win this game. I knew I had to be effective,’’ Johnson said. “I may not be the first or second option, but I’m fine with that. I just try to come out compete and have fun. I play off Brook [Lopez] and Deron [Williams] a lot when those guys are getting double-teamed and vice versa. It doesn’t bother me one bit.’’
The Nets admittedly didn’t handle those doubles Wednesday, leaving Johnson particularly perturbed.
“It was just a lack of effort. We didn’t get in the right spots. We just didn’t have that bounce like we normally do,’’ he said. “We did a great job of being in our spots [last night], especially in the second half. There was more effort and we were able to get over the hump.’’
After a first half that saw 2-of-8 shooting, just four points and a technical foul, Johnson got over the hump with 14 points in the second on 5-of-9 shooting. And Johnson’s new team got over the hump against his old one, after having lost six straight to Atlanta, including Wednesday’s rout.
“It was better,’’ Johnson said. “We’ve still got some work to do to get back where we were when we won six in a row, but [last night] was a lot better and we were able to come out with a big win.’’
Johnson has been to the All-Star Game every season for the past six years and both he and Nets’ interim coach P.J. Carlesimo are convinced he should go again when the reserves are announced Thursday.
“They’re all worthy of being All-Stars. Two of them are All-Stars [and] Brook should be,’’ Carlesimo said of Johnson, Williams and Lopez. “It’s in the coaches’ hands now, so I feel good about that. There are 15 teams in our conference, so we’ll just see what happens.’’