DeMar DeRozan is among the best one-on-one players in the NBA today. On an island, a defender is usually helpless against Deebo, especially in the midrange, where he is close to being unstoppable. DeRozan can use his body to get to his spot and score second to none.
During his recent appearance on Jeff Teague's Club 520 podcast, the Toronto Raptors' current all-time leading scorer admitted that he owes that skill to seven-time All-Star Joe Johnson.
"I remember that my first playoff series was versus Joe," said Deebo. "And I got every bit of Iso Joe, especially at that time, I was young and sh**. Part of the way I play now is because of Joe. Of how slow he plays and using his body getting to the spot, and getting to the bucket."
DeRozan felt beat up guarding 'Iso Joe'
That first playoff game came during the Raptors' first-round playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets in 2014. In that contest, Joe scored a game-high 24 points on 8-13 FG and 8-8 FT shooting in 44 minutes of action as the Nets took the series opener 94-87.
DeRozan, meanwhile, couldn't get his offense going, shooting just 3-13 from the floor for 14 points in 37 minutes of playing time. However, more than his shooting struggles, Deebo felt physically beaten up trying to contain Johnson on the other end of the court.
"I'll never forget my first playoff game," added DeRozan. "I went home that evening, and I was in pain. It felt like I got jumped by ten ni**** just banging with him the whole game because that's how physical he was and just getting to a spot, so Joe was always tough."
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Melo said 'Iso Joe' was like poetry
That series went the full seven-game route, with the Nets advancing to the second round. Johnson was Brookyln's top scorer at 21.9 points per game with shooting splits of .523/.391/.824. While DeRozan struggled against Johnson in that series, Joe was even more unstoppable when he was with the Atlanta Hawks. As Carmelo Anthony once said, he was like poetry in motion .
"When I used to see him work, it was like poetry with him. When he was Atlanta Joe when Woody is you know, he's running plays to iso him every single time, and he don't gotta dribble, he just footwork, getting you to lean one way, he don't take more than two, three dribbles. He's a phone booth player. You knew what was coming - tween, tween, hesi, pull. Like every single time…And ain't sh** you could do about it," said Melo.
While Deebo eventually surpassed Iso Joe's status in the league, Johnson owned a 27-14 career head-to-head advantage over him. DeMar outscored Joe in 27 of those total games, but it's worth noting that he caught him after 'Iso Joe' peaked in Atlanta. Still, the Brooklyn version was able to leave a mark in DeRozan's game.
Related: "Everybody in the arena knew Joe was getting the last shot" - When Joe Johnson earned comparisons to Michael Jordan
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