I’ve often joked – with a hint of seriousness – that I want to see Amir Johnson when he’s 50 or 60 years old. His body has taken such a beating throughout his nine-year career; I’m convinced his ankles are held together by elastics and Silly Putty. But no matter how hard he falls or how far his joints are twisted and turned, he gets up and he keeps going.
He did just that on Sunday night. Four days shy of his 27th birthday, the wiry – yet rugged – forward had arguably the best playoff performance of his career. His 17 points and five rebounds helped the Toronto Raptors secure an 87-79 win and a 2-2 tie in their first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets.
"I think everybody has something on their body that hurts," Johnson said. "But we keep playing (and) we keep fighting. It’s not the time to hold back now. We’ve got to keep going."
Johnson got things rolling early, scoring 11 points on five-of-six shooting in the first quarter. He was all but unstoppable in the pick-and-roll game and Brooklyn was left searching for answers.
Through the first three games of the series, most of the damage in the front court had been done by Jonas Valanciunas — though Johnson did have 16 points and nine rebounds in Game 2 — but the Nets seemed rattled early on in Game 4. Andray Blatche, among others, was getting blitzed by Johnson, who finished with 13 points in the first half as the Raptors went into the break with a seven-point lead.
"We definitely played more physical," Johnson said. "We were the aggressors."
Johnson had been ice-cold in two of the previous three games. In the Game 1 and Game 3 losses combined, Johnson totalled nine points, seven rebounds and zero blocks. But in Toronto’s two victories, the Los Angeles native has averaged 16.5 points and seven rebounds on a blistering 71 percent from the floor. He had things rolling in Game 4 before it nearly fell apart – both for the team and for Johnson.
Not only did the Raptors blow a 17-point lead, but with 4:29 to go in the third quarter, Paul Pierce drove the lane for Brooklyn. Johnson – clearly above the restricted area – had his feet set and put his body on the line. Pierce came crashing in and Johnson’s knee got mangled. Adding insult to injury, Johnson was whistled for the block. As he lay on the floor, many in attendance and watching on T.V. wondered if ‘Plastic Man’ would get up – again – and be able to forge on.
"I definitely knew I was going to come back," he said. "It wasn’t going to stop me from playing hard."
He’s the "Energizer Bunny" for the Raptors; he takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Though he sat for nearly 12 minutes of game time (and more than 45 minutes of real time), Johnson came back. Hurt, but not injured, he played the final 4:58 minutes on one leg, with five fouls.
"That’s Amir man," said DeMar DeRozan with a huff and a grin. "That’s our iron man right there to be honest with you. He played through it all. Knees, ankles, everything – he’s not going to make one excuse. He’s going to go out there and do whatever he can to help us win and he did it tonight."
Over the final five minutes of the game, the Raptors held the Nets to zero points. Toronto finished the game on a 9-0 run, shutting down Brooklyn with eight-straight defensive stops. Johnson was a huge part of that.
"It (wasn’t) a time to sit back and relax," Johnson said. "Stops count during the fourth quarter and we did a great job defensively."