Cam Johnson has been a nightly unstoppable offensive power for the Nets in December. The 28-year-old ahead has averaged 23.4 factors per recreation in his first 9 appearances this month whereas capturing 50% from the sector, 44.3% from 3-point vary and 87.7% from the free throw line.
That features 4 video games with at the very least 20 factors and one 33-point eruption in a 101-94 defeat of the Toronto Raptors final week.
Johnson has been the distinction for Brooklyn in shut video games, for higher or worse, relying on the way you measure group success. Few wings on the open market have matched his current manufacturing. And as he continues to surge, so does the value tag for any contending group seeking to purchase him.
“He’s our movement guy. He creates a lot of attention,” head coach Jordi Fernandez mentioned. “He’s running miles and miles and miles and a lot of the time he’s not the one taking the shot. But he’s definitely brought that composure to the group that has helped us in big-time moments where we were able to take the lead and close the game.”
A type of moments got here in Thursday’s 111-105 defeat of the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Discussion board. An 82-76 recreation getting into the fourth quarter, the Nets stormed again behind Johnson and Shake Milton to take a 99-97 lead with 3:40 left.
The Nets have been up three with 1:06 left when the Bucks suffered their worst psychological lapse of the night time. For no matter cause, they doubled Ben Simmons on a ball display screen on the 3-point line and left Johnson extensive open. The ahead knocked down the trey regardless of getting fouled by Milwaukee’s Ryan Rollins on the try. He accomplished the four-point play on the free throw line moments later, which gave Brooklyn a seven-point edge with 47.9 seconds left.
Johnson scored 10 of his game-high 29 factors within the remaining body.
Commerce hypothesis has adopted Johnson for the reason that offseason, however he continues to remain within the second and combat for his present group. Some followers might not respect it, given the Nets’ rebuilding scenario. However Johnson and firm pay no consideration to the noise.
“When we believe we can win the game, which we did the entire game, we give ourselves a chance,” Johnson mentioned. “So, it kind of starts with that belief… And then that kind of empowers guys to go out there and make plays, like Shake did, like Keon [Johnson] did, Noah [Clowney] hitting 3s. So, it’s just that belief that we have to have across our roster that showed up in the second half for us today.”
