Joe Johnson is making shots, and for that, Brooklyn should be thankful.
But easily lost in the cavalcade of swishes the Nets’ star shooter rained down on Monday night is what happened seconds before the ball left Johnson’s hot hands.
The first eight of Johnson’s 10 three-pointers against Philadelphia — one shy of the franchise record set by point guard Deron Williams last year — were assisted by a fellow Net.
Indeed, while Johnson was lighting up the box score, the Nets were smashing a lesser-noticed record: team assists. The 35 they put up Monday were the most this season by a wide margin — 15 more than an average night.
Getting D-Will back from injury is obviously a huge part of the Nets increasing their assist totals. His 13 dimes on Monday were a season high.
But everyone getting in on the assist action is a sign of a good team. It is no surprise the five squads with the most assists per game this year reads like a list of the NBA’s elite: San Antonio, Atlanta, Miami, Portland, and the Los Angeles Clippers.
And the fact that so many of those assists on Monday went to Johnson, specifically, is an encouraging sign. Johnson’s tendency to take defenders one-on-one has earned him the derisive “Iso Joe” nickname among fans, and can grind an already-slow Nets offense to a standstill.
Feeding Joe the ball with open looks, instead of relying on him to create his shot, will get him in a catch-and shoot rhythm on a nightly basis.
Then it is up to him to prove that Monday’s eruption wasn’t a one-off fluke.
Matt Spolar is a nearly 6-foot-1 journalist with a middling high school basketball career who is sure the Nets win thanks to team’s top-tier guards.
