Joe Johnson Flying South as Atlanta Hawks Fly North
The Atlanta Hawks had a thrilling win over the Toronto Raptors last night in Philips Arena. The Hawks were down by 15 points in the 4th quarter and manage to get the game into over time. The Hawks might be doing well, but Joe Johnson is certainly not. After the Atlanta Hawks made up all that ground, it almost ended as T.J. Ford sank a buzzer sounding shot at the end of regulation. Replay would prove T.J. Ford still had the ball in his hands, but how did he get open like that in the first place?
It was really simple when you go back and look at the film of the last 5 minutes of the game to see just how much Joe Johnson struggled. He took a ton of shots and only made a small percentage of them and he really slows down the Hawks fast pace; due to all those minutes he plays. Now at the end of regulation, Josh Childress was guarding T.J. Ford and Ford slipped away down the middle. Childress was guarding the top of the perimeter and Joe Johnson just needed to trail T.J. Ford to the hoop. It’s a simple rotation and it’s the way the Hawks play defense. For some reason Joe thought giving weak side help to the 3 point stripe at top was more valuable than guarding the paint and near the rim. There was only .5 secs left in the game, so you really have to just catch and fling the ball up. I believe everyone in Philips Arena knew the Raptors were going to lob something near the rim, with the exception of Joe Johnson. He made a critical error and at the most pivotal point in the game and really did cause the Hawks to lose in regulation. A quick start on the clock and a few glimpses of a replay was the only thing that allowed the Atlanta Hawks to go into overtime in last night’s game against the Toronto Raptors.
Joe Johnson didn’t just have that crucial error, but he had several in the closing moments of the game. He’s been doing this for the last two years and why he gets 40+ minutes a game can only be 1 thing. The whole Hawks organization is still trying to save face from the Joe Johnson trade that caused all the havoc 3 years ago. They still want to prove a point and it’s costing the team and fans in Atlanta a chance to really see good basketball in the ATL.
You put a guy on the free throw line that is your best free throw shooter when a technical shot is awarded to your team. Joe Johnson shoots the techs in Atlanta and he’s usually not the one with the highest free throw percentage on the floor when this happens. It makes no sense to take a weaker free throw shooter to try and add points to your team’s score. No offense in the NBA is designed better for 1 player to succeed in it than the Atlanta Hawks have for Joe Johnson. He can’t even get in the top 10 in stats, except for minutes played and you would think with all those minutes he would be registering some where in the top 10 stats.
So the Atlanta Hawks might be flying high and on their way up; this is certainly not the case for Joe Johnson. He has peaked as an NBA player and he has nothing else to offer. He is only good for wide open 3 point shots and has improved his ability to drive the ball to the hoop this year. He’s still not the guy you give the ball to down the stretch of games or have taken the last possession for your team. Joe Johnson is a classic ball hog and is unwilling to get his shirt untuck on the defensive end of the floor. The Joe Johnson experiment is over in Atlanta and it’s been like that for some time now.
