Brooklyn Nets Joe Johnson – "The Silent Assassin"

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In Deron Williams absence Joe Johnson flourished with the lead dog role and his numbers just don’t lie.

The mild mannered southern kid from Arkansas is not one to showboat or bring attention to himself so his demeanor doesn’t change whether he scores 40, drops in another last second game-winner or scores five points on 1-for-5 shooting like he did last night against Dallas. Johnson always remains the same steady Cool-Joe now matter the situation as long as the team wins the game because that is what Johnson is about – WINNING.

The Nets were in disarray a few weeks ago with their franchise player out with ankle injuries, 10 games below .500 and teetering on the brink of disaster until Johnson showed up in Oklahoma City to save the day and hit a game winning jumper to bury the Thunder. That shot seemed to wake up the team and also wake up Joe,Jesus.

Johnson, who had only scored over 20 points seven times in his first 32 games has now scored at least 23 points in five of the last eight games. His first quarter numbers are off the charts and he has now scored 20 or more points in the first half of three of the last six games.  The way he has been getting the Nets jump started early on in games has really helped the teams confidence and has had a trickle down effect.  Confidence is now high.

 STATS:

• Johnson has scored 76 points (31-46 FG) in his last 8 first quarters to go along with 13 assists and no turnovers (88 minutes played).
• In the New Year, Brooklyn Nets  (NBA-best 8-1) have a dominant +17.0 NetRtg w/ Joe Johnson on the floor vs. -16.2 w/ him off
• Johnson (20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) has posted his 3rd 20/5/5 game of the season.
• The Nets have had a player score 20+ points in a half 7 times in a season season. Joe has 4 of those 20-point halves, including 3 in the last 6 games.
• Jan 16th – Joe Johnson has moved past Drazen Petrovic into 10th place on the Nets’ all-time made three-pointers list.
• Joe Johnson is the 20th player in NBA history with 1,500 career three-pointers.

Johnson’s clutch factor is off the charts as well. Over the last two seasons, Johnson is 12-for-14 shooting with under 30 seconds remaining in the game and the game within three points. He’s also 6-for-6 with under 10 seconds left in the game.

That is beyond clutch…..that is Joe, Jesus.

If he can continue his recent solid play with a big game Sunday in Boston he may just grab a spot on the All-Star team but even if he doesn’t make it he is certainly the Nets go-to guy from this point on and that shouldn’t change whether Williams becomes the starter again or not.

Remember he may not always be there when you call, but he’s there when you need him.

The Silent One.

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