Pistons’ Johnson vows ‘more tricks’ after scoring 86
The initial reports on social media invited skepticism — because it’s not every day that a player scores 86 points, at any level.
In NBA circles, many of the social-media outlets lit up all weekend after word started spreading that Pistons forward Stanley Johnson scored 86 points in the championship game of the OVO Bounce pro-am tournament in Toronto.
There’s not much in the way of box scores or highlights — which adds to the skepticism — but Johnson confirmed that the rumors were true. To score that many points, plenty of shots have to fall, including some 3-pointers, and a lot of drives.
“It was everything,” Johnson told The Detroit News on Monday. “I knew when I got to 70 that I could get 80, with five minutes left in the game.
“If I didn’t score 70, we were going to lose.”
As for footage of the overtime victory for Team OVO over Team CIO, Johnson said more video is coming. The tournament is sponsored by rap star Drake and although they’ve released some clips and highlights on YouTube, a full-game version isn’t available yet.
Summer pro-am tournaments never have been confused with the bastions of defense, but Johnson and former Pistons guard Brandon Jennings — whom Johnson said was a teammate in Friday’s game — confirmed there were four or five NBA players on each team.
Johnson said the Indiana Pacers’ Corey Joseph and the Charlotte Hornets’ Frank Kaminsky also were on Team OVO.
“You can’t compare summer to regular season,” Johnson said. “It was more playing my game and trying new things.”
The offensive eruption stands to be a good sign for Johnson, 21, who is entering his third season with the Pistons and is in line for a starting spot, after Marcus Morris, the starter for the last two seasons, was traded to the Boston Celtics for Avery Bradley.
Johnson was relegated to a reserve role for his first two seasons, including playing mostly at shooting guard last season behind Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who was released by the Pistons and signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.
It seems that the opportunity is there for Johnson to have a much bigger role on offense with the Pistons next season. After averaging just 4.4 points and 2.5 rebounds last season, with 29 percent on 3-pointers, the OVO breakout could be something to build on for the regular season.
“I don’t worry about it; that’s why I play in the summer, because I can just play and see what I can do,” Johnson said. “I have more tricks now than last year.”
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