MIAMI — For so much of the game, Joe Johnson was whatever it is players are when they are in that ultra-special mode.
Johnson began the second half of Game 5 of the Nets’ Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Heat knocking down 9-of-10 shots. When he scored a how-in-blazes-did-he-do-that three-point play with 5:34 left, the Nets led by nine. A right-side jumper at 4:49 still had the Nets up eight.
“Joe Johnson was a handful,” acknowledged Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
“Joe was torching me,” said LeBron James.
But then the Nets’ offense disappeared. When it mattered most, not Johnson, not the savvy, aged cool, and expertise of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, nothing could save them. The Nets missed nine straight shots before Johnson bagged a final 3-pointer with 11.4 seconds left, but it was not enough.
And the pain began when the man known as Joe Cool lost the handle on the Nets’ final gasp and the season ended in bitter disappointment through a 96-94 elimination by the Heat.
“It’s tough because we felt this was obviously a game we should have won and [been] going back home to Brooklyn,” said Johnson, who finished with a game-high 34 points — he was the Nets’ best playoff scorer at 21.0 points per game. “This team was assembled to go deep in the playoffs win a championship.”
Well, that’s moot now. Johnson’s next big shot will be next season.
Those who followed the Brooklyn black and white (sometimes gray) so faithfully prayed for one last miracle to extend the series to a Game 6. When James clanged one of two free throws with 9.5 seconds left, there was hope. A two would tie. And the Nets had Johnson. Two inbound tries netted nothing as the Heat flicked balls and arms away. Finally, the ball got in Johnson’s hands. James and Ray Allen sandwiched him. Allen appeared to slap the ball.
“I felt like I was fouled,” said Johnson, who claimed he was hit on the arm.
No matter. James then knocked the ball away cleanly. And the Nets were done.
“It’s very frustrating. I just never could get hold of the ball for whatever reason so it was tough,” said Johnson.
“I just kind of stuck my hand in there and dug it away,” said Allen who ended up hitting the game’s biggest shot, a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left that gave Miami the lead for keeps.
“It shouldn’t have [come] down to that, but it was a tough situation. I just tried to get off a shot but I was in a crowd and whatever happened. We just didn’t execute down the stretch, offensively nor defensively. Defensively we had a lot of miscommunication,” said Johnson (15-of-23 shooting, 7 rebounds).
Now as was the cry so in Brooklyn years ago, it’s “Wait ’til next year.”
“We’ve overcome so much adversity throughout the season with injuries,” Johnson said. “But we were still able to kind of keep it afloat, keep fighting and give ourselves a chance.”