Joe Johnson’s hot shooting streak ended in Wednesday’s loss to Cleveland, when the Nets guard finished with just three points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Johnson had averaged 15.4 points on 52.6 percent shooting this month, but interim coach Tony Brown said it was less about Johnson’s shooting or LeBron James’ defense, and mostly about the Nets’ execution.
“It was us, to be honest,’’ Brown said after the 91-78 loss. “Some of the stuff we were trying to run to get Joe touches we were sloppy getting into them, so it made it that much more difficult for him to get the catch so he can be involved in the actions.
“LeBron was into him, but I don’t think it was to the point where he couldn’t touch the ball. I think we struggled. He was open a couple times from the perimeter, our point guards were not seeing the floor as well as we have been, because he could’ve got some opportunities that way as well. I think more of us was us not executing and getting Joe in a position to make plays.’’
For his part, Johnson shrugged it off.
“We all get missed from time to time, you know? It happens,’’ said Johnson. “Just us as players not on the same page.’’
Point guards Donald Sloan and Shane Larkin had trouble initiating the offense against the Cavs’ withering defense.
Sloan had 12 points and nine assists, and at plus-three, he was the only Nets starter to post a net positive on the floor, but the offense looked shaky.
Still, that’s a vast improvement over how it looked with Larkin at the helm. The young guard had seven assists but shot 3-of-10 and posted a team-worst minus-16, meaning the Nets were outscored by 16 points when he was on the court.
The Nets giveaway was thousands of foam fingers crossed in the same hex sign superfan Mr. Whammy uses on opposing free-throw shooters. They were given to fans behind the basket.
According to Forbes, the Nets are the seventh-most valuable franchise in the NBA at $1.7 billion.
Asked about former Knick J.R. Smith’s flagrant foul against the Warriors’ Harrison Barnes on Monday, Cavaliers coach David Blatt said: “We’ve talked about it and looking at that play, I’m not sure that if that was someone else that that’s a flagrant foul in all honesty. But that’s not my decision. That was someone else’s decision and nonetheless, we did talk about it, yes.’’