Rookie Stanley Johnson's Steady Presence Crucial In Pistons' 111-105 Win

By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby

Stanley Johnson raised his eyebrows and exhaled, standing in the locker room after his Pistons beat the Knicks 111-105. As Johnson took questions about his game - he had a career-high 22 points and nine rebounds - someone had mentioned the 19-year-old's 44 minutes.

"I played 44 minutes?" he said, before muttering a quick expletive in surprise.

Before Thursday, Johnson had never played more than 40 minutes in an NBA game. But against the Knicks, he was on the court more than any of his teammates, 12 more than Mr. Clutch himself, Reggie Jackson. Even after New York cut away the Pistons' 27-point second-quarter lead, and took one of their own, head coach Stan Van Gundy had enough faith in his rookie to keep him in the game.

"Everybody plays to play 48 minutes a game," Johnson said, who's seeing an increased role at least partially thanks to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's continued absence. He has a strained core muscle, the team announced Thursday, and will be re-evaluated sometime after the All-Star break.

"I knew I was gonna walk into heavy minutes," Johnson said. "Going into the game, I think it was just like, 'how do I keep up the defensive intensity?' and the offensive – we don't play the same. I knew I wouldn't be able to do it in his way, but I felt like I could help out on both sides and just keep it up."

Johnson was paired against the Knicks' Arron Afflalo most of the night, a tough task of its own. (Afflalo was a rookie when Johnson was 10 years old.) He's averaging 14 points a game this year and is a savvy veteran to lock down. He only had five points in the first half against Detroit, but came back with a renewed vigor that was initially hard for Johnson to adjust to.

"He's tough, he's tough," Johnson said. "I thought I had him under control at halftime, and then he came out extra aggressive and made very tough shots, got them back in the game a little bit. … I've got to roll with the punches. I really don't like people scoring like that so I get mad at myself."

"He was playing hard, but Afflalo showed him what the NBA's about," Van Gundy said. "Afflalo had his way with him; that was a good learning experience for him. Stanley didn't back away from the challenge."

Offensively, Johnson had a much easier time. He had previously broken 20 points only once this season, in November against the Warriors. But he poured in 22 Thursday, on a night where he played more than he ever had in an NBA game.

He was 7-of-12 from the field (1-2 from behind the arc) and 7-of-8 from the free throw line, in addition to his nine rebounds, five assists and two steals.

"Stanley came in and he was ready for the moment," Reggie Jackson said. "He's definitely somebody that has the utmost confidence in himself and he's one of those who says he's going to do it, and going to go out there and compete and at least tries to do what he says he's going to do. He came up tremendously big. … Played defensively tough even though Arron Afflalo got it going in the second half. He (Johnson) is a competitor and he's not scared of anybody."

That steady presence from their rookie was a welcome addition to the Pistons' night, amidst nearly blowing a 27-point lead. Detroit jumped out to a 12-2 lead that eventually grew to a 50-23 one. Steamrolling New York stalled in the third quarter, though – a period which the Knicks used to whittle the margin down to seven, before eventually taking their first lead with 2:14 to play.

In those final two minutes, as the Pistons collected themselves, Johnson collected a rebound, four made free throws and a block on Afflalo to preserve the Pistons' Eastern Conference win.

"I thought he was tremendous," Van Gundy said of Johnson. "Second start of his career, I thought he played real well. We were even going to him down the stretch there before Reggie hit the threes. We were running plays for him. He's fearless, getting better all the time, not afraid to make plays. … I think Stanley is going to be a really good player. He handled huge minutes tonight on the fifth game in seven nights, played 40-plus minutes and played real well. Nine rebounds, I thought he made some really good passes, just played extremely well."