While the Brooklyn Nets (10-4) continued their solid first-month play, beating a sloppy Boston Celtics team (8-7) 93-85 at the TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday, Brooklyn guard Joe Johnson's play was the talk of the Twitter world.
Johnson, who left Atlanta last season to join the Nets in their inaugural season in Brooklyn, racked up 18 points, six assists and a steal to lead all scorers as Brooklyn took their second straight from their division rival Boston this season.
Brooklyn also beat the Celtics 102-97 on Nov. 15.
In particular, Johnson was talked about for one particular move in the fourth quarter, with the Nets up 74-65.
Facing pressure from Celtics leader Paul Pierce in the right wing of the court, Johnson--with a slick crossover dribble--caused the normally defensive-savvy Pierce to trip and stumble, allowing Johnson to knock down an easy jumper to put the Nets up 76-65.
The move became an instant hit on Twitter.
"Best YouTube comment on Joe Johnson's ankle breaker: "that crossover was so dirty I had to switch to porn when my mom walked in," wrote user eLone.
"Joe Johnson Crossover Breaks Paul Pierce's Ankles," wrote Jason McIntyre.
"Joe Johnson had pierce playin twister lmao," Kerry Smith wrote.
"I'm still in awe of Joe Johnson's cross over on Paul Pierce.." tweeted Dave Sobolewski.
This marks the second such time in several days that Pierce has been "poster-ized" with a smooth crossover move. Orlando Magic player Jameer Nelson's crossover in a game against the Celtics sent Pierce crashing to the floor, although Nelson missed that shot.
It didn't help that Pierce had a lousy shooting night, missing nine of his 13 field goal shots and misfiring on five of his first six free throws. Pierce also had five turnovers to highlight a lousy offensive night for Boston.
The game also got ugly at one point when Rajon Rondo shoved Nets forward Kris Humphries into the courtside seats in retaliation for his hard foul against Celtics forward Kevin Garnett earlier in the game. Rondo, Humphries and Nets forward Gerald Wallace were ejected.
"Kevin could have gotten hurt. He's in the air. He took a bad fall. And so Rondo saw that and probably reacted, and over-reacted, obviously," Celtics coach Doc Rivers told NBA.com after the game. "I can't get in anybody's head. But at that point we're getting our tails kicked and we're probably frustrated."
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