ATLANTA — It wasn’t a happy homecoming for Joe Johnson.
Playing for the first time in the arena where he blossomed into a six-time All-Star over the past seven years, Johnson and the Nets were given a rude welcome by the Hawks, who ran them out of Philips Arena from the start and handed the Nets a 109-95 loss that snapped their seven-game winning streak to open the new year.
“My main goal was to come in here and get a win,” said Johnson, who finished with 15 points on 4-for-15 shooting in 41 minutes. “It [hurts], because it seemed like from the start we just weren’t really into it tonight.”
Brook Lopez finished with 22 points and nine rebounds to lead the Nets (23-16), who from the opening tip looked like a team that had played a hard-fought game the night before in Brooklyn against the Raptors. The Hawks, meanwhile, looked like a team determined to snap a skid that saw them enter last night’s game with losses in six of their last seven games, including a blow-out defeat in their last game in Chicago on Monday night.
The Hawks (22-16) opened the game with a 13-4 run and never looked back, leading from wire to wire in a game they at one point led by as many as 24 points. They repeatedly took advantage of the Nets in the open court, outscoring the Nets 29-12 in fast-break points.
“They definitely had the advantage in transition,” said Deron Williams, who finished with 12 points and nine assists and shot just 5-for-18 from the field. “I think they knew we played last night and played a lot of minutes, and used that to their advantage.”
Despite the success Johnson enjoyed personally and professionally in Atlanta, the six-year maximum salary contract the Hawks gave him to re-sign with them in the summer of 2010 became the main thing people focused on when his name came up, and what made Johnson available to the Nets this summer in the first place.
It also seemed to be the only thing the fans who showed up remembered about him, as Johnson was met with a surprising amount of boos both when he was introduced before tip-off and then whenever he touched the ball throughout the game.
“That didn’t surprise me,” Johnson said. “That’s neither here nor there. I just block that out.
“My focus wasn’t on that, but on me playing well, and us playing great as a team and getting the win. It just hurts for us to have an outing like that.”
It also took Johnson awhile to get used to the defense his old team was playing against him, as Atlanta aggressively attacked him with double-teams whenever he caught the ball, forcing him to give it up repeatedly before he could do much with it.
“We didn’t get people to the right spots,” Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said. “Because of that, we weren’t able to move the ball the way we wanted to.”
In fact, Johnson didn’t make his first basket until the 5:04 mark of the second quarter, when he hit a jumper. He then added an and-one and another jumper shortly thereafter, as he tried to keep the Nets within striking distance in the first half.
But, in reality, Johnson would have had to have a huge game to give the Nets much of a shot after Atlanta, who couldn’t make a shot in its 97-58 loss to Chicago, couldn’t miss against the Nets.
The Hawks finished the game shooting nearly 58 percent from the field and had six players in double-figures, led by a pair of terrific performances from their backcourt of Jeff Teague (28 points and 11 assists) and former Net Devin Harris (18 points, four rebounds, five assists and four steals) and while also playing without star Josh Smith, who had been suspended for the game because of conduct detrimental to the team.
In the end, Smiths’ absence didn’t matter, as the Hawks cruised to the win and spoiled Johnson’s return.
“We wanted to get it for him,” Williams said. “We knew he wanted this game, and I wish we could have put forth a better effort. But they played good. … They came out, had a great game plan and [Hawks coach Larry] Drew had them ready to play.”