NEW ORLEANS — After a slow start to the season, Nets forward Cam Johnson is starting to feel like himself. In fact, a record-breaking version of himself.
Not only did the Nets' wing rediscover his usual shooting stroke, he began driving the ball, setting a league record for streaks without turnovers.
Johnson hasn't turned the ball over in his past seven games, becoming the first player in NBA history to go at least 30 minutes without a giveaway on seven consecutive tilts.
On Monday in New Orleans, he will have a chance to extend his record to eight straight wins and continue to increase his value to both the Nets and the NBA.
“Part of it was just the way we played the game, just not putting the ball in jeopardy and just making some simple plays,” he said, scoring 23 points in 31 minutes with no turnovers and seven from deep against Cleveland on Saturday. said Johnson, who made 4 of his shots. “But even if you come back and have a few turnovers in a game, you just shake it off.
“And that's not what I'm thinking outside. It's not [thinking] “I can't turn the ball over at all. I can't turn it over at all.” I'm just trying to play the right way, and sometimes it happens. But to be honest, I don't even focus on turnovers. I'm trying not to do that, but I'm not obsessed with it.”
Johnson, one of the Nets' veterans named in the trade report, became the first player in NBA history to have multiple threes, assists and zero turnovers in six consecutive games.
Johnson hasn't committed a turnover since Oct. 27, when he lost the ball wide with 8:44 left in the third quarter of a win over Milwaukee. Since then, he has recorded 25 assists without conceding a single goal.
Johnson attacks closeouts, drives the ball hard and is enjoying his best stretch since coming to Brooklyn.
“He's a very good basketball player,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “He knows one of his superpowers is shooting the basketball. He makes some shots and they start to get really tough on him, and he makes the right read every time. I am.
“He's not when he's pushing the issue, making tough shots, competing hard. Then he's driving, scoring at the rim, making the next play for his teammates. I mean, he's a very good basketball player.”
It's good and it's getting better.
Johnson averaged 14.5 points and shot splits of .408/.360/.846 through the first six games of the season. But over the past four games, he has taken his game to another level, scoring 21.8 points on an impressive .554/.419/.857 shooting split.
“A lot of that is happening around the offense, the defense, coming into the game, picking up, guarding, I felt that energy circulating throughout the team,” Johnson said. “It makes it easier. It takes the pressure off the offense. You play in a flow. You find your rhythm.
“But no matter what it is, I just try to go out every game and do my job. And people who shoot threes better some days than others. Sometimes you can be great, so just ride the wave while you can and focus on the next play, the next shot, and the results will pay off.”
Johnson has taken a similar approach to trade rumors, which makes sense given the Nets' rebuild.
He is making $23.6 million this season, which is 16.8 percent of the salary cap. But Johnson's contract is team-friendly and actually de-escalates, making the contract even more valuable as the cap rises.
Next season, his salary will drop to less than $21.6 million, or just 13.95 percent of the cap. In his final year, he will earn $23.6 million, a modest 13.89%.
Some criticized Nets general manager Sean Marks for not moving Johnson in the summer and sticking with his offer, which was considered to be a hefty sum of two first-round picks.
Johnson has done nothing since then except increase his value.
