5 peculiarities from the Phoenix Suns’ fluky win over Charlotte

Peculiarity #3: Monty Williams sat Tyler Johnson

Before the game, it was known that Cheick Diallo would be sidelined with an illness and that Aron Baynes would sit with a calf strain. However, Tyler Johnson sat with the dreaded DNP-CD, or Did Not Play – Coach’s Decision.

It was a head-scratching move by Monty Williams on the surface, considering Johnson is averaging 20 minutes per game thus far.

No word on what caused him to earn a spot on the bench. It is well documented he is grossly overpaid, but other than that, he hasn’t been playing horribly of late.

Then again, he is scoring a career-low, (save for his rookie season) 6.9 points per game and coming off some pretty ugly +/- numbers. Perhaps Williams just wanted to mix things up to try and light a much-needed spark under the Suns.

To his credit, Johnson was active on the bench, often being the first one up and chatting often with players as they came off the court.

Regardless, it was Jevon Carter who found himself getting early playing time and took advantage of it, knocking down a few open 3s and playing his patented bulldog defense.