Joe Johnson Goes Nova

Posted by on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 7 Comments

“‘Going Nova”-v: To accelerate your game in an explosive manner, to the point where you are shining so bright it’s hard to see anything else happening on the floor.
(Ex. “Well, the Blazers hung in there, but then Kobe went Nova, and it was all over.”)

The Atlanta Hawks were hanging, but that’s not enough versus a team like the Celtics. With Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rondo, along with the best defense in the league this season, just chipping along isn’t going to get it done. They needed someone to go off, someone to push the Hawks over. After all, this was essentially a matchup of individual athleticism versus team concept and concentrated veteran star power. So naturally the only way Atlanta was going to even the series was if a player were to raise his game, to explode. And someone did.

Joe Johnson went Nova.

Scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter is the stuff of legend. To do it in the playoffs, on an 8th seed against a #1 seed, no, THIS #1 seed, is EPIC Nova. And it wasn’t a quiet, Tim Duncan Nova, either. It was a stunning combination of floaters, jumpers, and mid-slash faders. All of this punctuated, of course, by the absolutely sick, mind-melting, ankle-breaking, tell-Daddy-you-love-him-now-sit-down-and-let-him-roll-them-bones, crossover into the step back three.

This kind of offense is rare, it is beautiful, and it’s part of what makes this game so transcendent for small moments in time.

Joe Johnson just went from “that guy on my friend’s fantasy teams who scores all those points for Atlanta” to “the always-deadly Joe Johnson.”

That’s Nova, baby. That’s Nova.

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khandor

Doc Rivers stood by idlely watching as JJ tore into Ray Ray's decent-but-not-good-enough perimeter D, as a less than strong or quick or big or athletic enough Defender to hold joe Johnson down, individually, once his fire had been lit ... when THE answer to this particular NBA Jeaopardy Question was sitting squarely on the Celtic's bench, in the form of, "Where is James Posey?"

In my book, that's called ... bad NBA Coaching 101.

Ain't nobody going Super Nova on dudes like Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Gregg Popovich, Chuck Daly, & Red Auerbach.

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Rob Mahoney

Yeah, but how many times do Lakers fans see this against a good team like the C's?

That said, I love Joe Johnson, and it's about time he decided to make his mark on this one.

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Allen

mico - I was about to say - Lakers fans see this about 60 times a season.

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Anonymous

the crossover is deceptive. If you look closely Pewe trips over the back of Johnsons foot, thats what pulls johnson off balance and makes powe sit down.

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Mico

Can we say joe johnson went kobe?

I am admittedly a laker fan (dodges rocks) and I can't help comparing it to kobe bryant suddenly deciding to just f*** everyone and take over the game.

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Anonymous

Can Garnett get suspended for this? I thought you can't in any way touch NBA officials. I'm sure the league doesn't want to suspend him, and rightfully so, but I was under the impression this kinda stuff might be automatic.

If you were watching, they showed David Stern and the crowd made a collective "whoah!" noise. I wonder if this was it.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j284/kdbailey593...

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Anonymous

Oh man, that crossover was absurd.

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