PHILADELPHIA — Cam Johnson’s poster dunk over Joel Embiid went viral within seconds, but the Nets’ Game 2 loss Monday erased any joy the forward had from the moment.
Johnson scored 23 first-half points, none more punctuating than a one-handed, cock-back tomahawks over the league’s presumptive MVP before staring him down on his way back up the court on defense in the final minute of the first half.
“I just thought Embiid was kind of a step behind, and I had a lane,” said a disgruntled Johnson postgame. “I thought there were times last game where I should’ve dunked, and I said that. So I just thought I’d take advantage of an opportunity at that point.”
Johnson said the moment wasn’t the best dunk of his career.
“It don’t really mean that much. It’s just two points,” he said. “Like I said, I just thought I saw an opportunity and took it. There’s not really much more to it. I’m more concerned about wins than dunks.”
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said he’s looking for somebody — “anybody” — to step up and assist Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson in the scoring department. Starting point guard Spencer Dinwiddie has not played well through the first two games of the first-round series.
Dinwiddie shot just 5-of-14 from the field and one-of-three from downtown in Game 2′s loss to the Sixers. In the 20-point blowout loss in Game 1, he shot 5-of-12 from the field and missed four of his five attempts from downtown.
Vaughn said he’ll continue to trust Dinwiddie’s offense. He averaged a double-double in the final leg of the regular season but hasn’t quite found his stride against the Sixers.
“I think overall, his ability to get downhill we want more from him,” the coach said postgame. “He understands that; he’s got to continue to push the pace for us. He’s huge for us, and he knows it. We love him. We depend on him. He’s going to have the basketball back in his hands when we get back home and he’ll continue to play and lead us.”
The Nets only lost by three in the rebounding margin in Game 1 – but they lost by 20. In Game 2, they lost the rebound margin, 56-33. They were shut-out on second-chance points, 18-0, after losing by the same margin in Game 1, 21-3.
Part of it is schematic: The Nets went small with Royce O’Neale at center and five shooters on the floor. It allowed the Sixers to crash the glass — but the Nets couldn’t capitalize on open shots. They hit just 13 on 42 attempts.
“I don’t think that’s an area where we can just lay down and accept the fact that they’ll outrebound us,” said Johnson, who grabbed four rebounds on the night. Sixers starter Tobias Harris doubled his season average with 12 rebounds in Game 2. Five of them came on the offensive glass. “I mean, Tobias is sneaking in there. I think we just gotta continue to do a better job putting bodies on them. They’re not small guys by any stretch of the imagination. They’re big and they can get in there and rebound, so we just gotta turn the game as physical as we can, we kinda gotta embrace that griminess to it and continue to fight.”
Sixers star Joel Embiid said Vaughn’s complaining about the officiating after Game 1 worked in Brooklyn’s favor in Game 2.
Vaughn said the officials missed traveling calls and three seconds violations on Embiid in Game 1. The superstar center turned the ball over eight times in Game 2.
“I saw after the game last time, [Vaughn] kinda took a page out of [Raptors head coach] Nick Nurse’s book and started begging for free throws and calling out the referees,” Embiid said. “They got a lot of calls, which I guess is good for them.”
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