Suns' Cam Johnson buries Knicks with game-winning, 30-foot buzzer-beater to cap off career night

Phoenix Suns forward Cameron Johnson has been playing basketball for a long time, but it's hard to imagine he's had a better night on the hardwood than he did in Friday's nationally televised 115-114 win over the New York Knick

Johnson scored a career-high 38 points, 21 of which came in the fourth quarter, and banked in a game-winning, 30-foot 3-pointer as time expired, much to the delight of the raucous Footprint Center crow

Knicks guard Alec Burks had a chance to put the Knicks up by three points before Johnson's heroics, but missed the second free throw. Suns forward Mikal Bridges came up with the loose ball off the rebound and found Cameron Payne, who pushed the ball into the frontcourt before eventually delivering the game-winning assist to Johnso

"Mikal came up with a big possession, and Cam Payne got it. Instead of running, I kind of curled behind and slowed down," Johnson said after the game. "He gave it right to me and I kind of had my mind made up right from there. Big-time play by Cam Payne. Big-time play by Mikal Bridges. And a big-time response from the other day."

Here's what it looked like from inside the arena. Chill

Johnson went 11 for 16 from the field and 9 for 12 from beyond the arc, and the nine 3s were also a career high. His performance came at the perfect time, since the Suns were once again without leaders Chris Paul and Devin Booker. Johnson helped the Suns erase a 14-point Knicks lead, aided by the third-quarter ejection of Julius Randl

"I just told our guys after the interaction that happened, I said, 'OK we're gonna win this game,'" Suns coach Monty Williams said after the game. "We just had to have the mental fortitude to just take it one possession at a time, and it was amazing to see our group, the huddles -- every timeout, guys never felt like we were out of it

In five games since the All-Star break, all without Paul and the last two without Booker, Johnson has averaged 23.4 points per game on 58.5 percent 3-point shooting to help Phoenix go 3-2 during that stretch and improve to a league-best 51-12 on the seaso

"A lot of emotion in this one, but that's what we do," Johnson said after the win. "We grind things out. We play together. We stick together. We don't crumble. We've seen a lot of adversity over the years. We've got a group of guys that really cares about each other and really cares about winning games

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