Don't let the baby face fool you. Phoenix Suns' forward, Cameron Johnson, is a cold-blooded killer with ice in his veins! Or at least, he's on his wa...
Mikal Bridges also got off to a great start, hitting 3-straight three pointers in the first quarter, finishing the game with 20 points. With the Knicks coming off of an embarrassing outing against the Sixers where Julius Randle & co. An absence that has proven to be manageable for Phoenix, pulling off their second win in a row. One of which happened to be the buzzer-beating dagger that sent the Knicks back to New York with their seventh straight loss. Even after a missed free throw by Knicks forward Alec Burks that placed the ball back into the Suns’ possession – no one would’ve guessed that the game would have ended the way it did. In last night’s nail-biting 115-114 victory over the Knicks, Johnson was electric – finishing with a career-high 38 points.
With Chris Paul and Devin Booker both sidelined, the Suns need players to step up and keep the team rolling. Cam Johnson did just that.
Earlier in the game, Randle knocked the wind out of Johnson on an aggressive move that wasn’t called a foul. He also got into a scuffle with Knicks forward Julius Randle in the third quarter. He secured a 115-114 win for Phoenix with a deep buzzer-beater.
38 points and a buzzer beater to win it for the Suns against the Knicks has solidified what we've been seeing over this stretch.
Per @co_dhunt, he’s the first Sun not named Booker to reach 38 points since Kelly Oubre Jr. over two years ago. He was flat-out unguardable for a lot of this final frame. Even dating back to some real creation flashes back in the Finals, Johnson is throwing a pie in the faces of all the non-believers with his unheard of trajectory for a 26-year old, as well as in my face for the non-believers when the Suns face a 14-point fourth quarter deficit. * While the playmaking wasn’t a huge part of his game against the Knicks, he’s reached 4-plus assists in three of the five games, and he’s shooting 58.5% on — and here’s the important part for me — 8.2 attempts from three per game * Mikal Bridges — who was the first to check on Johnson after the initial hard blow to the chest in the first quarter — finished with 20 points on just 11 shots. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m an emotional Suns fan at times.
Cam Johnson got more pissed than he ever has in his life while shooting a basketball and it led to the game of his life for the Phoenix Suns.
Johnson said the pitch-back pass Payne made is one Payne has used often since joining the Suns, and once the two made eye contact as Payne sped the ball forward, it was known from there. With that in mind, he still very good on the night overall despite that. He slightly faked with his body and arms once in the triple threat position to create just enough separation to tie the game at 3:13 t0 go. One free throw for each side left the Suns down two with 1:06 to go. His layup was blocked by Robinson, but New York’s Alex Burks didn’t knock down his second free throw after making the first. In the late third quarter as a Knicks shot went through the air, Randle went to go box Johnson out with some extra oomph on it and Johnson braced for the blow with his own contact. He walked Johnson down, bumped him, attempted to move an official out of the way and shoved Johnson. In the last chunk of those dozen minutes, though, Randle was ejected in that kerfuffle, one in which he clearly lost his cool. The game, which was unstable for the majority of the second half, got rocky again for 90 scoreless seconds before Johnson’s seventh triple fell off a true heat check. Johnson even remembers a similar boxout by Randle in New York earlier this year that had too much mustard on it, one that peeved him then. The stability Phoenix had relied on defensively to force New York into tough shots and scoring at the foul line fell apart, as the Suns lost those 12 minutes 38-23. Through one half of fairly even basketball, it felt like the Suns were on track to eventually pull away.
So it only seemed appropriate the ball wound up in his hands to deliver the biggest shot of his NBA career. Johnson scored a career-high 38 points with his ...
He hasn't even been close to making a difference on the boards. Ayton hasn't been a force on the glass since the All-Star break. He won't make trip to Wisconsin if he's still in protocols. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin. The Suns keep saying they have a chance to grow without Booker and Paul. They can continue to take the course one could call "How to play when teams take out Booker and Paul." Clearly a good call as he said the previous play was for Johnson, but he instead went looking to score and missed a layup with the Suns down one with 7.9 seconds left. His career-high nine 3s tied a franchise record. In reaction to that, Randle got in his face and proceeded to shove Johnson with his left hand after the two exchanged some words. The Knicks were up, 86-76, with 2:40 left in the third, but Suns coach Monty Williams said he told his Suns they were going to win the game. So when he and Randle got into in the third quarter, Johnson was already there and wasn't about to back down this time. Johnson picked up a technical, but stayed in the game and led the Suns (51-12) to victory in matching the number of wins they had all last season in a 72-game season. So when Randle knocked the wind out of him Friday night from a Randle blow to the rib area, Johnson said it "felt cheap" and "really hurt."
The Knicks looked like they were headed for an impressive road win before Julius Randle's ill-timed outburst late in the third quarter sent him to the ...
"We just had to have the mental fortitude to take it one possession at a time. Johnson took a hard shoulder to the chest from Randle on Friday in the first quarter, which knocked the wind out of him and sent him to the locker room briefly. Johnson said he thought the move "felt cheap" and set the stage for the later confrontation. "I had the opportunity to continue playing," Johnson said. Said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau: "You've got to know where to stop. "Just thankful that it went down," Johnson said.