Dennis Johnson (Sonics) (19pts/3blks) vs. Suns (1979)

Brent Musburger and Keith Erickson were laughing after Dennis Johnson's long-range baskets which reminded them more of his teammate Downtown Freddie Brown than the Seattle Supersonics version of DJ. The pesky Dennis Johnson defense is there, though. After all, here's a 6-4 guard who casually could reach three blocks in a game. March 30, 1979.

[@Amick44]

A truly great 2 way star. He won more at Boston, but took a back seat (offensively) and thus was considered to be a complimentary player. He was both, a star and a terrific secondary man.

[@madcapper6]

The two worst trades in NBA history: 1. Sonics trade Dennis Johnson to the Suns for Paul Westphal 2. Suns trade Dennis Johnson to Celtics for Rick Robey.

[@Amick44]

True. Though the Westphal trade was only bad cause Paul had a bad foot. Pretty even talent wise. Or at least it was previously. Robey, though, wow! Never in DJ's class or even close.

[@husq48]

Ricky Sobers for Don Busey, cost the Suns this series, and likely a title! 🤬

[@Amick44]

Often lost in the Sonics success was what an excellent passer John Johnson was. He ran the offense as much as anyone. DJ and Gus included.

[@madcapper6]

I was a kid of about 10 during those years and as someone who bled Sonic green even at that age, I also tended to judge players by how many points they could score. JJ I think was at around 12 to 15 points a night, so he was a bit down on my list of favorite players. I didn't pay as much attention to other aspects of the game like defense, rebounding and playmaking. I was aware of JJ's passing and ballhandling skills but didn't really have any idea that his skills were unusual for the position he played. I loved all of them Sonic players though, including JJ. They were my heroes and at 10 years old and not knowing any better, I thought that team was gonna reign supreme for a hundred years.

[@JAWrightonline]

Was JJ Pippen before Pippen?

[@Amick44]

Wouldn't quite go that far. Pippen was bigger, more athletic, but JJ was probably a better pure passer. No 3 pt line when JJ played, so ... tough to say. I'm sure he would've hit a few, though.

[@madcapper6]

He might've been alluding to the whole Point Forward thing. I'm not sure if JJ was the first but he was the first one that I was ever aware of. A lot of what gave the Sonics the edge back in those days, and the Bullets too, is that they changed the game in a lot of ways and the way JJ was utilized was one of them. Years afterward, someone mentioned that the game as we knew it all the way through the 90s, where the game was all about matchups more than X's and O's, all started with the Sonics and Bullets. That gave them an edge maybe more than any talent disparity might have. It might have been Doug Collins or Hubie Brown, or someone like that who spoke about that. Both Pipp and JJ were around 6-7 and around 210 I believe. But there's no doubt Pipp was more athletic and prolific scorer than JJ was.

[@robertastrop2482]

This was a Great game played by DJ!! RIP!!

[@BasketballJones48021]

Nice! DJ versus the team he spent his peak-level-of-play with.

[@Amick44]

I never get tired of watching DJ and Westphal. Ditto Fred Brown and Sweet D. Beautiful, skilled, talented guards.

[@madcapper6]

He actually was peaking when he was with the Sonics. It was just more of the same with the Suns. He was the best player on the Sonics championship teams and was the guy who gave them that championship dimension. When they made the mistake of trading him for Westphal (one of the worst trades in NBA history), they never came within the same zip code of title contention again.

[@Amick44]

I think even Lenny Wilkens would admit (as a young coach) , he could have dealt with Dennis differently. I'm sure he wishes he did afterwards.

[@Amick44]

@@madcapper6 Yeah, but if Westphal hadn't had the foot problem, think it (trade) would've been a wash. But he did (injury) so it wasn't (a wash).

[@Amick44]

Anytime you wanna see great basketball of this era, just watch these 2 teams, along with the Walton/Lucas led Blazers' champs a year or 2 before. Doesn't ge much better.

[@christopherrevelle935]

This was in my humble opinion the NBA at it's finest. DJ was a great team player. It is commercialized now as the NBA celebrates individual performances more than playing as a team.

[@Amick44]

Loved DJ too. And sweet D Walter.

[@madcapper6]

1:34 Brent says "Looking ahead to the western conference playoff final"... and we don't hear the rest of what he has to say. Did he just accurately predict that those two teams would make it there? It almost sounded like he knew it was gonna happen, just as sure as the sun rising in the morning.

[@hermit6208]

No three point arc....weird.