Cam Johnson may no longer be in The Valley, but he can still reminisce about being a part of one of the most iconic plays in Phoenix Suns franchise history.
Speaking on The Zach Lowe Show podcast, he did just that.
Lowe asked the former Suns wing player about “The Valley-Oop.”
“The Valley-Oop in the Conference Finals Game 2, it’s the famous inbounds play that Ayton dunks to beat the Clippers," Lowe said. "I know that’s a Jay Triano play, but had you actually run that play before? … Did you know it was going to work?”
After confirming that he was primed to be a decoy on the play, Johnson broke it down by giving praise to former Suns head coach Monty Williams.
“All the credit on this one goes to Coach Mont,” Johnson said. “As soon as that timeout was called, he grabbed the clipboard and got to explaining the entire play — no stutter, no hesitation, and then went to each individual of the five guys and told them exactly what to do and exactly what to look for on the play.”
Then Johnson relayed the most crucial portion of Williams’ explanation of what would join the collection of the most iconic plays in the history of the franchise.
“He ended with, ‘There is no goaltending on an inbounds pass. Try to almost make a shot, Jae (Crowder). DA just put a hand on it, send it in the basket, we’ll win the game, we’ll go home.'”
Johnson went on to explain his role as the decoy, pulling his defender Paul George away from the interior and out of the play almost entirely by running a curl route along the 3-point arc.
When you rewatch The Valley-Oop, George can only run back hopelessly toward Ayton after he’s already put the oop down to take the lead as time expired. George raises his hand as if to ask for a replay that of course would only confirm a Phoenix win. Williams knew the rule, and knew it would not be overturned via a goaltending call.
Ayton, including finishing off the game with the oop, put together a monster effort in the win. He finished with 24 points on 12-of-15 shooting (80%) to go along with 14 rebounds.
Johnson, meanwhile, was no slouch. He came off the bench and hit all five of his field goal attempts (including a 3-pointer) en route to 11 points, three rebounds and a steal in 24 minutes of action.
If Johnson hadn’t been immaculate from the field leading up to that final play, who knows if George would have shadowed him all the way out to the perimeter like he does.
The Suns, as we now know, would go on to win that Western Conference Finals series against Los Angeles in six games, propelling them to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1993 with Charles Barkley and Co.
The Suns ultimately fell in the Finals in six games to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks, but that playoff run including The Valley-Oop remains a high point for Phoenix fans.