Cameron Johnson’s contributions for the Suns shouldn’t be overlooked

Cameron Johnson deserves some shine for his first playoff run with the Phoenix Suns.

The Phoenix Suns certainly aren’t lacking in great storylines during this magical run to the 2021 NBA Finals. In a season that’s often felt like a perfect storm of every possible variable coming together at the right time, and for a group that has a very real “team of destiny” vibe, it’s hard to find a player or coach on this roster who isn’t likable and easy to root for in some way.

After Phoenix’s Game 1 win against the Milwaukee Bucks, it was easy to focus on the obvious, major storylines: Chris Paul‘s sensational Finals debut after waiting 16 years to get break through; Devin Booker seizing his moment right from the jump after toiling through five difficult seasons of losing; and Deandre Ayton‘s improbable rise from good, inconsistent big man to legitimate two-way star.

The Suns’ Big 3 combined for 81 points in Tuesday’s series opener, and the way that each one of them arrived at that particular moment was remarkable.

With all of that being said, and even on a team that’s teeming with feel-good storylines, we’d be remiss if we didn’t pay Cameron Johnson the much-needed respect he deserves for his terrific, understated first playoff run.

Cameron Johnson deserves praise for his first playoff run

A look at the raw numbers doesn’t reveal anything that will leap off the stat sheet. Johnson is averaging 8.2 points and 3.1 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game in the postseason, which is down from the 9.6 points and 3.3 rebounds in 24.0 minutes per game he put up during the regular season. Heading into these playoffs, with the 25-year-old Johnson mired in a shooting slump of 39.3 percent shooting from the field and 29.8 percent shooting from 3-point range since the start of April, his playoff readiness was suddenly as shaky as any one of Phoenix’s inexperienced youngsters.

Then the playoffs started, and like Booker, Ayton, Mikal Bridges and Cameron Payne, Cam Johnson proved he was ready for the moment.

A glance at his game log shows Johnson hasn’t scored more than 14 points in any postseason game, and he’s only reached double figures in eight of the 16 games he’s suited up for. But he’s also been hyper-efficient in the slightly reduced role that’s to be expected when the starters’ minutes ramp up for playoff basketball.

In the playoffs, Cam Johnson has been an absolute flamethrower, shooting 50.6 percent from the field, 45.5 percent from 3-point range and 88.9 percent from the foul line — up across the board from the .420/.349/.847 shooting splits he posted during the regular season. His long-range attempts are down (from 5.6 to 3.4 per game in the playoffs), but his regular-season true-shooting percentage of 56.3 has dramatically spiked to 70.5 percent in the postseason.

Not only does that number trail only Deandre Ayton’s absurd 71.6 percent mark, but it also puts him in some pretty elite company:

Johnson is 17-for-30 (56.7 percent) on corner 3s and has made 13 of his 19 shots around the rim. In Game 1, he chipped in 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals on 3-of-6 shooting, but he also played stout defense, getting a pair of key stops on Giannis Antetokounmpo in the post that prevented the Bucks from digging into Phoenix’s lead.

“His ability to space the floor and shoot the ball is what you tend to think about with Cam, but I thought his defense was really good tonight,” head coach Monty Williams said after Game 1. “He’s a big, strong defender, and he has the ability to move his feet and keep guys in front. At 6-foot-9, to move his feet like that — there’s times when Giannis is coming at you full speed. There’s really no answer for that except to take the hit and try to keep him from getting to the basket. I thought he had some really good possessions tonight on that side of the ball. And then his ability to score, space the floor, attack the basket, he’s just a really good player.”

Johnson’s defense stood out in Game 1, but it was just one of a few smaller, subtle moments that showcased how ready he is for this stage. When Milwaukee seemed content to switch P.J. Tucker onto Ayton with a help-side defender behind him, Johnson did what Suns wings have been doing all season: smartly flash across the key to draw the help defender with him, catch the ball near the free-throw line and give Ayton an easy lob over the top with there no longer being a weak-side defender to help cover for Tucker’s fronting:

In the fourth quarter, Johnson coolly knocked down an open mid-range jumper to push Phoenix’s lead back up to 12 and help ice the game. A wide-open look for a shooter of Johnson’s caliber may seem like it’s no big deal, but for a second-year player, in his first playoff run, during his first Finals game, the poise required to continue making easy plays doesn’t always come as naturally as the Suns’ youngsters routinely make it look.

“That’s what we need,” Mikal Bridges said. “Every time he scores or he’s subbing in for me, I tell him, like, ‘Just be ready, let’s go.’ He subbed in, got a quick 3 and I was hyped up and just telling him right off the bench, ‘I like it.’ He just kept going with it, defending. So that’s my brother out there. I’m happy for him.”

All year long, Monty Williams has thrown around Monty-isms his players have adopted into the fabric of the team’s culture like, “well done is better than well said,” “can’t get happy on the farm” and even simple buzz words like “poise” or “relentlessness.”

But “when preparation meets opportunity” is another potent, under-the-radar mantra that applies here, and it’s applied since last year’s NBA bubble — in a way, it’s almost the Cameron Johnson of Monty-isms.

“I think it was one of those phrases that were thrown out and then the opportunities just kept getting bigger and bigger,” Johnson said. “You look at the bubble, that was a big-time opportunity for us, and I felt like we prepared as a whole unit for that and did what we set out to do. But it just set us up for these opportunities and the opportunities we’ve had all regular season and the opportunities we’ve had all postseason. At this point, the preparation has to be at a higher level, the focus has to be at higher level, the poise has to be a higher level. But those are challenges that we’re definitely willing to take on and try to overcome and win ourselves a championship.”

Cameron Johnson missed Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals due to food poisoning, preventing him from celebrating with his teammates. His father told 3TV’s Nick King that his son had said that was okay; he’d get to celebrate with his teammates when they won it all.

If Johnson remains as calm, cool and collected as he has been throughout the Suns’ magical playoff run, that will only help Phoenix’s odds of making that goal a reality.

“I’ve said this a couple times, but there’s this sort of calm that comes over you before the game when you feel like you understand what we want to accomplish as a team,” he said. “When you feel like you understand the scout, the other team’s personnel, you go in and it doesn’t feel as chaotic.

“You go in and feel like you know what you’re supposed to be doing, and then you feel like you know what your teammates are going to be doing. And I think we have done a great job of kind of being on the same page, and that goes a long way into showing that poise. You know, at the end of the day, we’re a team that’s had each other’s back all season, and so I feel like I understand my job. I know what my part is, and I feel like I can go out there and execute it comfortably and with poise.”