Guard Justin Johnson is playing a bit out of place. He's an undersized shooting guard who's playing point guard for the Armor. That wasn't the Nets plan. They recruited Lorenzo Brown, a 6'5" point guard, had the Armor trade for his rights, but the Sixers called him up -- it's the risk you take in the D-League.
Johnson had the best game of his D-League season Sunday, but the worst 20 seconds as well. The 6'2" guard out of tiny Concordia-Irvine registered a career-high 25 points and the Armor (0-5) had the Red Claws (4-1) on ropes down the final stretch of the game, but Maine held on for the 93-89 victory Sunday afternoon at the MassMutual Center.
After Johnson hit two tough shots to tie the game, but with 20 seconds on the clock, Maine's Chris Babb drove to the basket and connected on a layup for his first points of the game. He drew a foul by Johnson who was then charged with a technical foul after tossing the ball against a stanchion. The Red Claws converted the four-point play to make the score 92-88 and held on for a 93-89 victory.
Willie Reed recorded his third double-double of the season, scoring 19 points and pulling down a game-high 17 rebounds. The two ex-Nets assigned to Springfield, Gary Forbes and Adonis Thomas, scored 19 and 8 points. Forbes shot 9-of-20 in 31 minutes while Thomas took only seven shots in 38 minutes, making two and scoring eight in 39 minutes.