For how long would Joe Johnson need to be an ineffective offensive player in the playoffs for the Hawks to stop forcing the ball to him even when at least one other effective option is available?One possible answer is "more than 44 games over five years."
In the regular season, Joe Johnson is no franchise player but he's a good offensive player. In the playoffs, he is neither:
| Joe Johnson 2007-12 | 2PTFG% | 3PTFG% | FT% | Pts/36 | A/36 | TO/36 |
| Regular season | 47.7 | 36.1 | 82.6 | 19.3 | 4.8 | 2.1 |
| Playoffs | 42.9 | 34.3 | 77.3 | 16.4 | 3.5 | 2.3 |
| Joe Johnson 2007-12 | Usage Rate | PER | WS/48 |
| Regular season | 26 | 17.9 | .115 |
| Playoffs | 25.6 | 14.5 | .031 |
This is not strictly a Joe Johnson not making positive plays issue. This is also an asking Joe Johnson to do things he's simply not capable of doing issue and a building a basketball team around Joe Johnson as if he were something he's not issue.
The Hawks are 18-26 in the playoffs over the last five seasons. Often, the Hawks have been taken apart by better teams. But the Hawks are just 9-8 in the playoffs against the teams with worse regular season records they've faced: the 2008-09 Milwaukee Bucks, the 2009-10 Miami Heat, this year's Celtics team. In the playoffs, the Hawks don't beat the teams they're supposed to beat with anywhere near the regularity or ease with which they get beat by the teams who are supposed to beat them.
This is a not learning from your mistakes issue.
1 comment:
And amazingly no one reprimands his iso-heavy attack, something opposing players can easily key on in a series when there is only one team and a couple of players to gameplan for. Ugh, 4 more years of this BS. Again, why am I a Hawks fan again?
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