Job speculation not worrying Avery

Avery Johnson isn’t going to waste any time dealing with rumors about his job status. He’s got plenty more on his mind.

“For me it hasn’t been a distraction, because I go about doing what I do day-in and day-out,” he said. “I don’t think anybody outworks our staff. I think we’re very prepared. We try to do everything that we think we should do. We don’t want to go overboard, but we feel we prepare the players in such a way that they need to be prepared.

“I don’t think it’s been a distraction for us. Hopefully it hasn’t been a distraction for the players. Not any situation that involves me. If it involves something else that’s different, but I don’t think what we’ve done we have to be ashamed of. Day-in and day-out we try to lay it on the line and try to get the team in the best shape we can to go out and perform. And from there, obviously, you need some of the guys to really step up and play well.”

He’s seen that from the Hornets.

“New Orleans is not really doing anything that’s tricky,” Johnson continued. “David West decided to come out and dominate the third quarter [of Game 4]. Chris Paul has pretty dominated the whole series. It’s really simple basketball.”