Why does JJ choke against the Cavs?

Willie Colon · Post #1 » by **Willie Colon** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 8:06 pm

Why does Joe Johnson choke so bad against Cleveland?

He can get a shot off when he wants and is scoring at will against one of the top defensive teams. He had great size, strength, athleticism and is not bad defensively.

So whats stopping him from dominating Cleveland's small/mediocre guards? Do they put LeBron on him?

evildallas · Post #2 » by **evildallas** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:17 am

Lebron has the strength and speed to make life really rough on Joe, so they always have a stopper ready if he shows signs of life.

killbuckner · Post #3 » by **killbuckner** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:30 pm

Since this stinks of a kneejerk reaction post- how many points per game would you say that Joe averaged vs the cavs this year?

azuresou1 · Post #4 » by **azuresou1** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:22 pm

I'd guess 20-22 PPG for this year. LAst year during playoffs was brutal though.

evildallas · Post #5 » by **evildallas** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:43 pm

I'm not normally one to make excuses but he was banged up in that series last year. That's one of the reasons that I think that this post-season is really important to establishing Joe's contract value. He's as healthy as he is likely to ever be this year (in spite of the thumb injury).

evildallas · Post #6 » by **evildallas** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:53 pm

To support the discussion:
Joe's game logs
12/29 Cle
L 95-84 43 5-14 .357 2-5
.400 3-4 .750 1 0 4 1 0 2 2 4 15
12/30 @Cle
L 106-101 40 15-25 .600 3-6
.500 2-2 1.000 2 0 2 3 3 1 4 3 35
4/2 @Cle
L 93-88 37 6-17 .353 1-5
.200 0-0 -- 0 0 0 1 0 3 3 5 13

Game 2 definitely wasn't a statistical choke and Joe was 4-9 in the 4th that day which isn't a choke either. That was the game were we blew a big lead and lost the game in the last 20 seconds. The other two games were below average for Joe, but the whole team locked up in the 4th quarter of those three meetings not just Joe.

Willie Colon · Post #7 » by **Willie Colon** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:23 am

I was thinking of his awful performance in last years playoffs and the last match against Cleveland this season.

I didn't know he was injured during that series though. Makes sense. He's too good to be shut down by anyone.

evildallas · Post #8 » by **evildallas** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:53 am

He had a turned ankle (media said severe) in the Cleveland series. He toughed it out to finish the series with some ok games. Even before the injury he under performed in the playoffs possibly because he was exhausted when the playoffs started. He had 5 bad games and 2 good ones against Miami. He had 2 bad games (one was injury shortened) and 2 ok (not great) games against Cleveland. The previous playoffs he had 2 good games, 1 ok, and 4 bad games against Boston. Both years he was on fumes by the time the playoffs started. This is the first year he's been relatively rested, so we have to see if he performs better now or whether the big stage doesn't agree with Joe the player.

Willie Colon · Post #9 » by **Willie Colon** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:46 am

Yeah, he seems pretty well rested to me.

Mbah a Moute is a top notch defender. Good mix of hustle, technique and athleticism. He has a 38 1/2" vertical (same as Joe "the athletic freak" Alexander) and a 7' wingspan.

Kevin Durant mentioned earlier this year that Mbah a Moute was the toughest defender he's faced. We're used to seeing him shut down superstars. So far he's been unable to hinder Johnson's offensive attack. He's been unstoppable to say the least.