NEW ORLEANS – Joe Johnson will be a game-time decision for Tuesday night’s game between the Nets and Hornets in the Big Easy.

“No word yet,” Johnson said on whether he’d be able to go with his sore left heel. “I’m just gonna go through shootaround and see how it goes.

“It’s definitely improving. It was a little tender this morning, but I’ve done some treatment this morning and gotten it loose, so I’m gonna go through shootaround with the guys and this evening we’ll see.”

Johnson sat out of both Friday’s loss against Houston and Sunday’s loss against Memphis – both in Brooklyn – because of the heel injury, which he said began to be an issue shortly before the All-Star Break.

The Nets have missed Johnson’s late-game heroics, which were fully on display when he hit shots in the dying moments of both regulation and overtime in last week’s victory over the Bucks in Brooklyn.

“I’m gonna be very cautious, because this is not something that I want to linger during the postseason,” Johnson said. “I really want to take care of it now, but I understand the significance of every game that we have so I’m gonna try to do whatever I can to get back.”

tbontemps@nypost.com