NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov raised both arms up in triumph.
"Joe Jesus" had done it again ... just like old times.
With the Nets on the verge of another last-second loss, Joe Johnson banked home an off-balance, one-footed, 3-point prayer at the buzzer, lifting Brooklyn to a stunning 105-104 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night at Barclays Center.
"Joe Cool, as usual," Prokhorov said as he exited the arena.
Johnson has now made seven game-winning buzzer-beaters in the past 10 seasons -- three more than any other player in the NBA, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
However, he hadn't hit one in a while.
In a season in which the Nets (14-39) have struggled mightily, this one was pretty sweet.
"The play wasn't designed for me, because we were only down two," Johnson said. "It was designed to try to get Brook [Lopez] the ball in the paint and try to get a layup or easy deuce and go into overtime. But obviously, when I came up to the top of the key, I was wide open. (Inbounds passer) Markel Brown saw me, and I knew I only had like 1.3 seconds left, so I knew I had enough time to take at least a dribble.
"Man, I don't even know how it went in."
During the same game, Johnson put Jusuf Nurkic on skates before draining a jumper late in the third quarter and also surpassed Scottie Pippen to move into 52nd place on the league's all-time scoring list. He is 51 points shy of 19,000 for his career.
"It was fun," Johnson said. "Obviously, we've had a tough season, but to get some excitement like that out of the game was exciting. I'm happy for the fans."
In the big picture, Prokhorov and the rest of the team's GM search committee -- which includes Dmitry Razumov, Sergey Kushchenko, Brett Yormark and Irina Pavlova -- were back in town to begin conducting formal interviews. Asked about his likely interview with Nuggets assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas, Prokhorov could only smile and laugh.
The Russians are being extremely quiet about their search in hopes of landing the right candidate for the job. Two-time executive of the year Bryan Colangelo, former Atlanta Hawks GM Danny Ferry and Houston Rockets executive vice president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas are all expected to interview for the position over the next few days, sources said.
Asked about how the interview process was going, Prokhorov would only say, "It's not bad."
Monday’s win was one of those rare times in 2015-16 when all Nets fans were happy in Brooklyn. It was, quite frankly, nice to see.