Johnson out with sprained ankle
This must feel frustratingly familiar for Cam Johnson.
For the second time in four weeks, an injury has disrupted a good stretch of games for Johnson, who will not play Thursday against the Pistons. The Nets’ thirdleading scorer (13.8 points per game) suffered a right ankle sprain during Tuesday’s comeback victory against the 76ers and was ruled out on Wednesday’s injury report after undergoing further testing.
Johnson torched the Hawks for 29 and 23 points — two of his four biggest scoring outputs of the season — in back-to-back games last week, and followed it up with 18 against the Grizzlies. He was plus-39 in those three games.
Looking to stay hot, Johnson instead was injured in the first half on the landing after shooting a 3-pointer, when he was crowded by the 76ers’ Kyle Lowry. No foul was called. He limped off the court about one minute later and still was hobbled on his way out of Barclays Center at the end of the night.
Just last month, Johnson missed four games with a left adductor strain on the heels of averaging 15.3 points on 51.2 percent shooting from the floor over a four-game stretch. It took five straight games with waning minutes and 8.2 points per game before Johnson got back in the groove at the Hawks’ expense.
Johnson also missed seven games with a calf strain at the start of the season.
➤ C Day’Ron Sharpe (right wrist contusion) was upgraded to questionable after missing last game.
G Ben Simmons (left lower-back nerve impingement), G Cam Thomas (right ankle/midfoot sprain) and F Dariq Whitehead (left shin stress reaction) remain sidelined.
➤ PF Dorian FinneySmith has made 7 of 13 shots from behind the arc in the past two games. That’s the same amount of 3s that he made on 28 attempts over the previous nine games.
So, is his touch returning? He is shooting 37.6 percent from 3 this season, up from 35.9 percent for his career.
“It’s just something that’s going to come back,” he said. “I feel like the average is going to be what it’s going to be. Just try not to focus on it. Just shoot the ball with confidence and let the results be the results.”