Joe Johnson hasn’t been himself lately. But when the Nets needed someone to deliver in the second half of Tuesday’s installment of their crosstown rivalry with the Knicks, he delivered time and again.
Johnson finished with 22 points — including 19 in the second half — to go with eight rebounds and six assists to lead the Nets to a 98-93 victory over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
“I was trying to get him involved,” coach Lionel Hollins said. “He was 0-for-4 in the first half, and then he came back in the second half and was 7-for-10. I thought all the guys played hard and well … we kept battling.”
It was the kind of performance the Nets haven’t seen much lately from Johnson, who after averaging over 19 points through the first nine games this season had finished in single-digits in three of the previous six heading into Tuesday night’s game. But after looking like he was headed to another off night in the first half, Johnson took over after halftime, making sure the Nets didn’t let a game they led almost wire-to-wire slip away.
“I thought we ran our offensive sets with pace, when we did that and played with some enthusiasm, especially down the stretch,” Johnson said. “For whatever reason we’d be up 10 or 15 coming into the fourth and it’s like some way, somehow we make it a tough game.
“We shouldn’t be doing [that]. We got to learn how to put teams away but when we ran our offensive plays and played with some energy, defensively we were able to get stops and big rebounds and made clutch plays down the stretch.”
Once the Knicks cut it to three in the final minutes, Johnson hit Deron Williams in the corner for a 3-pointer with 1:42 remaining to make it 94-88, and then Johnson hit four free throws inside the final minute to officially seal the win.
“When we needed him to be aggressive, he was aggressive,” Kevin Garnett said. “He made some great baskets at some key moments of the game.”
All the Nets needed to do to solve their rebounding woes was play the Knicks. After being outrebounded 50-34 by the Bulls Sunday — prompting general manager Billy King to say Monday “We’re not a very good rebounding team right now” — the Nets responded by grabbing 21 offensive rebounds and 49 rebounds overall Tuesday.
“Coach has been stressing rebounding,” said Kevin Garnett, who finished with six points and 13 rebounds, including six offensive boards — the most in any game by a Net this season. “We have made an emphasis for the bigs to rebound better, and tonight I did.”