Averages Drop As Team Misses Its Ordinary Joe

[DrReality]

Averages drop as team misses its ordinary Joe

By Sekou Smith

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

New York —- If you let Joe Johnson tell it, he’s fine.

There’s nothing he’s doing now that he wasn’t doing last month. In December, Johnson led the Hawks to 11 wins in 15 games and a top-four spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

Take a quick look at his numbers in January and it’s clear the Hawks’ captain and All-Star isn’t fine.

Take another look at his body language on the floor and it’s clear he’s fatigued, physically and perhaps psychologically, as teams use bruising tactics to crowd him and force him into uncomfortable positions on the floor.

In December, Johnson averaged 24.2 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 47 percent from the floor and 35 percent from beyond the 3-point line.

In January, he’s averaging just 16.9 points and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 36 percent and 26 percent, respectively, in 13 games.

“It’s just one of those things where your shots don’t go down the way they usually do and you have to keep plugging away,” Johnson said. “I don’t worry about this stuff. I just keep coming to work the way I always do and make sure I’m doing whatever I can to help my team win.”

Johnson has been unable to do that, too, this month. The Hawks have been up and down and are 5-8 with a game tonight against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

“When a guy goes through a slump like this the only way to come out of it is to work your way through it,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “That’s the only way it can happen. There is nothing magical that’s going to fix it. And all good players go through these stretches, and they always figure it out. And Joe is too good of a player to do anything but work his way out of this.”

But Johnson’s struggles seem to run deeper. He doesn’t look like himself on the floor, passing up shots he’d normally take and bypassing chances to attack teams on the offensive end that he never would have last month.

Might it be the wear and tear of playing so many minutes? Johnson is averaging 40 minutes a night, and he’s played 40-plus minutes 29 times in 44 games.

He played 43 each in back-to-back losses to Phoenix (Sunday) and Miami (Monday), working on fumes late in both games.

“I got some good looks, but the shots just weren’t going down,” said Johnson, who has made just 12 of his 35 shots the past two games and had an uncharacteristic five turnovers in each of his past three games. “And that’s really how it was for us as a team. It happens.”

Still, Woodson acknowledged that he has to do something to find Johnson some rest, but he said he’s not as concerned about his star’s struggles as others might be.

“Now the stats don’t lie. It is what it is,” Woodson said. “The one thing that Joe has to understand, though, is that teams are going to attack him. I would. He’s just that kind of player. And if you look at it as a whole, his assist numbers have gone up this month [6.0 in December to 7.2]. So he’s doing the right things. He’s making plays for other guys.”

The problem for Johnson these days is making plays for himself. Even when the openings are there, he can’t seem to convert.

And that’s where Woodson said he has to help out.

“I’ve got to find a way to get him some better shots and to get him some more looks at the free-throw line,” Woodson said. “Because there’s no doubt teams are going to try and knock the starch out of him physically and hope that knocks our entire team off balance. And that is, again, where Joe has to be smart in how he’s playing. He has to trust the guys around him and know when to create for them and when he has to attack. And I have the utmost confidence in Joe that he’ll do exactly that.”

WHAT’S WRONG, CAPTAIN?

Joe Johnson is having a tough month. His scoring average in January is 6.5 points a game less than the previous three months of the season. His shooting percentage is also down nearly 14 percent in the past 13 games. A breakdown of his monthly totals:

Month ….G ….Pts…..FG% ….Reb. ..Ast.

October….1….25.0… .550….7.0….2.0

November..15….22.5… .429….4.4….5.6

December..15….24.2… .469….5.0….6.0

January ..13….16.9… .356….3.9….7.2

NEXT FOR HAWKS

> Who: at Knicks

> When: 7:30 p.m. today

> TV; radio: SPSO; 790 AM

[crimedog]

I'll say it again, run the offense through Bibby and Josh and let Joe do his work off the ball. Maybe we increase our turnovers in the short-run but if it lets Joe avoid some of that pressure Woody is talking about, then its something we gotta do.

[Gray Mule]

REST JJ!

Too many minutes.

Too much pressure.

"He's got to play thru this."

Really? Play thru being overused?

Now, the truth is coming out.

[coachx]

JJ is wearing the calf sleeve again. In fact now he is wearing a calf sleeve on each leg.

Last year, about this same time of year, JJ was also wore down and leading the league in MPG. He looked sluggish and out came the calf sleeve, which would normally be no majory thing EXCEPT that same calf that got injured the year before and cost him the last 21 games of the season..........calf injuries are normally stress realsted due to over use.

JJ is too tough to admit he is hurting and admire him for playing through pain (unlike guys like McGrady). That is what makes JJ a leader, unlike McGrady. Granted he is a leader by example and toughness while Bibby is the voice of the locker room and Horford may police it some what.

I'm just so tired of hearing Woody say stuff that he never follows through on. He seems to miss the big picture. Dogging JJ out to try to win every game every night is missing the big picture. Playing JJ 43 minutes on back to back nights is insane ! Especially when he is obviously hurting.

If Woody keeps this up JJ's body is not going to hold up for 40 more games of this and a playoff run..........He can play heavy minutes in the playoffs b/c you never play a back to back game. However, Woody's regular season approach seems to be that every game is a playoff game and that will wear your star down.

[thefloydian]

God, I hate Woodson.

[Wurider05]

I'll say it again, run the offense through Bibby and Josh and let Joe do his work off the ball. Maybe we increase our turnovers in the short-run but if it lets Joe avoid some of that pressure Woody is talking about, then its something we gotta do.

I know that things are bad but it is never bad enough to run the offense through Josh Smith. You should be banned from HS for even saying something like that !!! LOL

[AHF]

I know that things are bad but it is never bad enough to run the offense through Josh Smith. You should be banned from HS for even saying something like that !!! LOL

crimedog can correct me if I am wrong, but he isn't talking about having Josh run a point forward or something like that. He is talking about Bibby running the team and doing so primarily through pick and roll plays with Smith.

[exodus]

crimedog can correct me if I am wrong, but he isn't talking about having Josh run a point forward or something like that. He is talking about Bibby running the team and doing so primarily through pick and roll plays with Smith.

That is what the Hawks were doing the night Bibby had 15 assists.

[crimedog]

crimedog can correct me if I am wrong, but he isn't talking about having Josh run a point forward or something like that. He is talking about Bibby running the team and doing so primarily through pick and roll plays with Smith.

Right. Pick and rolls. High post isolations, low post isolations, pull Horford to the elbow for a jumper and let Smith cut the hoop for an oop-attempt, etc.

In a vacuum, JJ should always be the focal point. We don't play in a vacuum though. The common response to a suggestion that Smith should be the primary offensive option is "he has no skill!!!!" but he's gotta be doing something right to put up the numbers he's put up over the past month.

Ex' is right, when we dedicated ourselves to the pick and roll, Smith and Bibby had arguably their best offensive games of the year and we blew the Bucks out completely. When Al comes back we should run pick and rolls and pick and pops with Smith and Al respectively on as many possessions as possible.

[NineOhTheRino]

I blame Joe's problems on Bibby.

I also blame Bibby for:

Economic Slowdown

Beyonce sucking at singing

The war on drugs

Teenage pregnancy

Crime

Gas prices

Housing slump

Osama Bin Laden

STD's

Video games prices

American Idol

Jay-Z's big lips

Edited January 28, 2009 by NineOhTheRino

[Packfill]

I think fatigue is an issue with JJ. He and the team would benefit from him staying home and resting during the all-star break.

[Peoriabird]

“When a guy goes through a slump like this the only way to come out of it is to work your way through it,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “That’s the only way it can happen. There is nothing magical that’s going to fix it. And all good players go through these stretches, and they always figure it out. And Joe is too good of a player to do anything but work his way out of this.”

Still, Woodson acknowledged that he has to do something to find Johnson some rest, but he said he’s not as concerned about his star’s struggles as others might be.

The problem for Johnson these days is making plays for himself. Even when the openings are there, he can’t seem to convert.

And that’s where Woodson said he has to help out.

“I’ve got to find a way to get him some better shots and to get him some more looks at the free-throw line,” Woodson said. “Because there’s no doubt teams are going to try and knock the starch out of him physically and hope that knocks our entire team off balance. And that is, again, where Joe has to be smart in how he’s playing. He has to trust the guys around him and know when to create for them and when he has to attack. And I have the utmost confidence in Joe that he’ll do exactly that.”

Talk about being hard headed!

[GameTime]

Woody is running Joe into the ground.