Welcome to tonight’s episode of “Classic Scrubuzzerbeaters with DownToBuck”. I’m your host, DownToBuck. The subject of tonight’s episode is James Johnson’s forgotten game-winning three-pointer on December 28, 2012. Johnson was on the Kings at that point in his career, a team he was only on for one season. He kind of was sucking that season, eventually getting benched entirely, but on this night he scored a season-high 18.
Here’s the setup: Kings down 2 against the Knicks with 15 seconds left, having just secured the ball after a Jason Kidd turnover. Isaiah Thomas misses a short jumper to tie it with 10 seconds left; after a confused scrum for the ball, the Kings regain control, sending it to John Salmons in the right corner with 2.5 seconds left. Tightly defended, Salmons swings a dangerous pass to Johnson at the top of the arc, who catches and fires with from three with .3 remaining on the clock. The shot drops, the home crowd goes berserk, and Steve Novak looks sad.
It was one of two threes that Johnson made that season. That’s really all that needs to be said on the improbable-ness of this shot. Nowadays, DeMarcus Cousins would have taken the shot himself; in this one, he merely taps the rebound after Thomas’ first missed attempt. Some forgotten aspects of Johnson’s tenure with the Kings: those ugly-ass goggles he wore, and his general slim appearance. The beast that would later emerge with the Raptors was still a work in progress.
Thanks for joining me for “Classic Scrubuzzerbeaters with DownToBuck”. Next episode we will analyze John Henson’s game winning tip-in for the Bucks on October 29, 2016.