Brooklyn Nets forward Cam Johnson has not been shooting the ball as well with Brooklyn as he did when he was with the Phoenix Suns earlier this season before being traded at the deadline. In his 17 games prior to Saturday’s win over the Miami Heat, Johnson had his fair share of offensive struggles despite getting more chances to shoot the ball along with similar looks.
In Saturday’s 129-110 win over the Heat, Johnson had 23 points and four assists. However, what makes those numbers better is that he did it on 9-of-13 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 shooting from behind the three-point line. He started the game well as he had eight points in the first quarter and he continued his bounceback offensive performance throughout the contest.
While being known as a shooter, Johnson has shown the ability to handle the basketball to either drive to the basket or find a teammate for an open shot. For some reason, he wasn’t able to hit shots that he can make in his sleep, but if Saturday is any indication, all it takes is one shot to go in before he catches his rhythm. Johnson spoke immediately after the game about what allowed to have the performance he had against the Heat:
“Just sticking with it. Put in the work, then just trusting it. I felt we had a good energy today, a good juice about our team. Guys were playing hard, covering for each other, and everybody feeds off that.”
Johnson was also asked how big of a win this was for Brooklyn as they are now back in sixth-place in the Eastern Conference and have a 0.5 game lead on the Heat:
“I mean, I think we had the mindset coming in that this is a playoff game and this is one of the most important regular season games we’ve had to date. You know, after a couple of losses, try to get back on track, first game of a road trip. It means a lot so this is definitely one we wanted to get.”
[lawrence-related id=52547,52544,52541]