The Nets’ Joe Johnson will take part in the NBA All-Star weekend 3-point contest on Saturday, and he stayed after practice Tuesday to hone his skills. After making just seven 3-pointers in his only other appearance in the event — in 2005 with Phoenix — he’s older, wiser and determined to make amends.
“I’m trying to beat my score, when I did it in Phoenix. When I was in Phoenix, I made seven. I can be happy if I just beat that,’’ Johnson said, ruefully. “I was young, inexperienced and just wasn’t prepared. I didn’t do [any] of this the first time I did it. I just felt, you know, I’ll go up there and I’ll make shots.
“And our last game before the All-Star break was a Wednesday, so we didn’t play Thursday. I didn’t do nothing Thursday, Friday, didn’t do nothing at all Saturday until I got to the 3-point competition. So that’s two or three days without touching a basketball. I don’t know how you’re going to win a competition like that.’’
The 32-year-old simulated the drill three times Tuesday, notching a high score of 23. He even said he would take the competition like a game situation, taped up with an arm sleeve. Johnson also will have to adjust to a rules change, with shooters able to put an entire rack full of money balls in one spot on the court.
“I wanted it to be the corner, but I don’t want it to be the first shot and it can’t be the last because I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to get around there. It might just be the second right on the half. We’ll see,’’ said Johnson, who has shot 49 percent from the left wing and 40 percent from the corner.
The Nets host the Bobcats on Wednesday, play at Chicago on Thursday and will begin a seven-game road trip after the All-Star break. Because the circus will be at Barclays Center, they won’t play at home again until March 3, so they’re determined to win the next two games to take some momentum into the break.
“That’d be huge,” Deron Williams said. “And then we’ve got that long road trip when we get back, so essentially most guys are going to be gone for 2 ¹/₂, three weeks straight. So it’s important for us to finish strong so that we have that in our mind-set and then we can go on the road and try to win some.”
“This is the time of the year you see the break coming where teams tend to get relaxed. But it’s an important part of the year because even before All-Star break it’s the second half of the year,’’ Paul Pierce said. “We’ve already been in 41 games, so we’re more than halfway through. We’re going to continue to try to grow, gain momentum and finish out the first part of this season on a good note.’’