UNC Basketball: Cameron Johnson enjoying hot-shooting WCF

Former UNC basketball sharpshooter Cameron Johnson has been scorching the nets for the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals.

Cameron Johnson is enjoying the first NBA Playoff run of his young career, and he’s making the most of it. The second-year sharpshooter out of North Carolina is scorching the nets through five games of the Western Conference Finals, averaging 10.8 points on an outstanding 70 percent (21-of-30) shooting from the floor, and an unbelievable 53 percent mark from three-point range.

He’s hit at least four shots from the field in four of five games, and has connected on at least one three-pointer in all five. He’s notched double-digit points in four games, and pulled down at least four rebounds in four as well — he’s averaging four boards per game to go along with 1.2 steals.

Johnson, despite all of his success on the court, is averaging less than 24 minutes per contest. It begs the question, why isn’t he getting more minutes and more looks when he is on the court?

The Suns struggled shooting the ball in a Game 5 loss to the Clippers, hitting just 38-of-84 (45.2) shots overall, and 9-of-26 (34.6) from beyond the arc. Comparatively, Johnson went 5-for-6 from the floor and 3-for-3 from long-range. The same could be said of their Game 4 victory when they shot poorly and narrowly beat the Clippers by a final score of 84-80. Johnson got just 17 minutes of game time despite the fact that his team connected on a meager 36 percent (31-of-86) from the floor and 20 (4-for-20) percent from three.

Perhaps the hot-shooting sophomore will get a few more minutes and some additional looks in Wednesday night’s pivotal Game 6. A victory sends Phoenix to the NBA Finals for a date with either the Milwaukee Bucks or the Atlanta Hawks, while a loss forces them into a win-or-go-home Game 7.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on Cameron Johnson, and UNC basketball alumni throughout the league.