Getty Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges of the Brooklyn Nets. The Miami Heat were listed as a possible destination for Johnson this summer.
The Miami Heat will head back to South Beach tied at one-win-apiece with the Milwaukee Bucks, after dropping Game 2 of their first-round playoff series on Wednesday. As Miami journeys back home, there has been some focus on who else could be headed to South Beach, just later this summer.
An anonymous Eastern Conference general manager, who spoke with Heavy Sports‘ Sean Deveney, listed the Heat on a short list of suitors for Brooklyn Nets forward Cam Johnson.
“It won’t hurt to take a shot on him and at least make them match” the source said. “If I have limited means but I want to take a shot, he is a guy I would look at, maybe for a full tax midlevel. Miami is one that needs to take a gamble like that, Dallas is another. Or he could be a development guy in a place like Portland. The relationship with the Nets is a weird one because they seem really reluctant to actually play him. Even after the trades. There is no question that the guy has talent but they’re worried about whether he has what it takes between the ears. Every time he gets one of those 30-point games, they’re happy because the kid is good but they’re also like, ‘Oh no, this is going to blow up his ego.’ But I would be surprised if the Nets let him go.”
The 26-year-old has gotten the starting nod in all 25 of his regular-season appearances for Brooklyn, after being dealt to the Nets by the Phoenix Suns as a key prize in the Kevin Durant trade. Johnson has averaged 16.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists, while shooting 46.8% from the field and 37.2% from beyond the arc.
Jrue Holiday Calls Bucks’ Shot vs. Heat, Told Giannis to Sit
Stepping out of the time machine and back into the present, the Heat got beat up pretty bad by the Bucks in Game 2. They wound up losing, 138-122, with the score not truly reflecting how dominant the home squad was.
Following his team’s big bounce-back win, Milwaukee guard Jrue Holiday shared what he’d said to teammate Giannis Antetokoumpo earlier in the day. Holiday explained to reporters that he’d told the Greek Freak the rest of the Bucks could “hold down the fort” against the Heat.
“I told him this morning, like, ‘I know you’re gonna wanna come back, but if you don’t, just know we got you,’” Holiday said via “The Athletic.” “Our team has the ultimate confidence in each other and we know how Giannis is. We know Giannis is going to try to make that Superman effort and come back and play 48 minutes and do what he does, but, like I said, we can hold down the fort until he comes back.”
Jae Crowder Says Bucks Needed ‘to Take Care’ of Heat’s Jimmy Butler
Heading into Wednesday’s matchup in a one-game hole, Bucks forward Jae Crowder discussed how his team could adjust from Game 1, name-dropping Heat star Jimmy Butler in the process.
“Watching the film, it was just overthinking the game,” Crowder said via “The Athletic.” “I think we gotta defend the ball, take care of the ball, and not worry about second and third actions. We gotta take care of the ball and that’s the main guy. Jimmy had the ball in his hands creating, so we gotta take care of him. I think once you take care of us not thinking as much and us just reacting, we’ll be fine taking care of the straight-line drives.”