Stanley Johnson is invaluable for the Detroit Pistons

Just a game into his playoff career, rookie Stanley Johnson has already shown himself to be an essential piece of the puzzle for the Detroit Pistons.

It seems like it’s been awhile since Stanley Johnson was benched for back-to-back games just before the end of the regular season. After being held out of the Detroit Pistons’ third and fourth-to-last games against the Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards following several prior poor outings almost certainly stemming from lingering pain from his recent shoulder sprain, Johnson returned to action in the Pistons’ last two regular season games against the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Johnson played just 13 minutes against the Heat, scoring five points but grabbing five rebounds, and played significantly more against the Cavaliers thanks to head coach Stan Van Gundy giving him the start at small forward and opting to rest all five regular starters. In the regular season finale in Cleveland, Johnson scored 12 points in 31 minutes but shot just 4-of-14 from the floor, and added eight rebounds, two assists and three steals in the battle of the benches between the Pistons and Cavaliers.

By all appearances from game one of the first round of the NBA playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the rest that Johnson has received over the last couple of weeks has paid off. Johnson drew one of the toughest defensive assignments in the league (and of all time, for that matter) in LeBron James for the majority of his 16 minutes on the floor thanks to Tobias Harris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope being ineffective against him.

The 19-year old rookie was able to handle James’ physical onslaught as well as any seasoned vet has this season. He didn’t give ground when James would back him down and absorbed contact well, making LeBron’s drives to the basket more of a challenge than expected.

Johnson was also able to stick with James off the ball, not giving him clearance as he weaved through off-ball screens. It was only 16 minutes, and without a doubt James will be able to overwhelm and overpower the youngster if they were matched up the whole 40 minutes that LeBron played, but Johnson proved himself to be the number one option for the Pistons as a “LeBron stopper” in key stretches.

In spite of Johnson’s youth, he’s not much smaller than James. While LeBron weighs in at 6-foot-8, 250-pounds, Johnson is 6-foot-7, 240-pounds. James possesses grown-man strength, however, and while Johnson is strong for his age, he has a way to go before he can handle that kind of banging for a full game.

He also picked up four fouls in those 16 minutes, which is probably going to be a fairly consistent point of concern as he matches up against James. That’s because not only has his defense proven to be vital, but he also had his best offensive game in quite some time, scoring nine points on 3-for-4 shooting and hitting all three of his three-point attempts. He also grabbed eight rebounds.

Stan Van Gundy will need to be able to utilize Johnson at will in this series, and most likely more in late game situations, as he admitted in post game comments that he should have gone back to the rookie in the fourth quarter as Harris and KCP were simply unable to hang with James.

Given what we’ve learned from the first game of this series against Cleveland, it’s going to be fascinating to see what adjustments Van Gundy makes regarding Johnson’s usage and place in the playoff rotation.