NBA

‘Heel’ to pay for Nets’ hobbled Joe

Nets guard Joe Johnson felt pain in his left heel in two games before All-Star weekend. He felt it again following the break, but still sank the Bucks on Tuesday with a game-tying 3-pointer and then a game-winning overtime jumper. He flew with the team to Milwaukee and went to bed.

The problem was when he tried to get up.

“I got in the bed in Milwaukee and woke up the next day,” recalled Johnson, who sat out Friday’s game and is listed as questionable for tonight’s against the Grizzlies at Barclays Center. “I had to literally crawl out of bed because it was hurting so bad.”

On whether he will face Memphis, he said simply, “I’m not sure.”

After the Nets’ light practice yesterday, Johnson explained how he had figured he just needed to loosen up his heel, which he described as badly bruised. He played through pain Wednesday. He shouldn’t have.

“It never loosened up but … I played through it. It was tough,” said Johnson, who has undergone all the usual treatments — ice, massage, laser stimulation — and some exotic stuff like hot yoga to help the heel.

All that came following his heroics in Brooklyn against the Bucks.

“It wasn’t unbearable then,” Johnson said. “It didn’t get unbearable until the next day.”

Hindsight is always 20/20 — not 50/50 as a past Nets coach once said — and if given the chance again, interim coach P.J. Carlesimo would have rested Johnson on Wednesday when he scored eight points, his first single-digit scoring game since Dec. 9.

“In retrospect, Joe wanted to play and he didn’t say anything. Looking back now, if you watch his game in Milwaukee, you go, ‘No kidding [he should have sat],’ ” Carlesimo said. “But he wanted to play, and he went out and tried. But, obviously, he was in a lot of pain.”

Johnson said the rest Friday helped his condition, which he feels is not plantar fasciitis — as originally thought.

“I’ve had plantar fasciitis, but this, I don’t think this is,” Johnson said. “My heel is bruised badly. It was hard for me just to put my foot down.”

This leaves the Nets with a terrific backcourt of Johnson and Deron Williams (inflamed ankles), whose talents may be surpassed only by their pain. With the playoffs on the not-so-distant horizon and the Knicks just one game up in the Atlantic Division, Carlesimo must prioritize results and rest for his star guards.

The division? Not so important. The playoffs? Real important. The health of his players? Most important.

“If it reaches a point where because of how sore they are or how they’re playing, it is better to shut them down,” Carlesimo said. “That makes it a lot more difficult to be competitive.”

The coach explained finishing as the fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh seed for the playoffs makes little difference (no one wants to be eighth and facing the Heat in the first round).

“I would love to win the division,” said Carlesimo, who again will start C.J. Watson if Johnson sits. “It’s good that we’ve gotten closer to [the Knicks], but it’s not as good as us being healthy and it’s not as good as us playing. I’m not disappointed about [Friday, when the Nets failed to tie the Knicks]. … I was more disappointed because we played [poorly and] Joe didn’t play and Deron was really sore after the game. That was way worse to me than not catching New York.”

Williams played through sore ankles Friday, one day after receiving his third set of cortisone shots since camp.

“I’m good,” Williams said yesterday, though Carlesimo doubts his point guard will be 100 percent the rest of the season.