Suns’ Cam Johnson and Abdel Nader could be in line for more minutes

With a knee injury to Phoenix Suns forward Torrey Craig, head coach Monty Williams may have to look deeper into his bench in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

“He got some testing done yesterday. All of that came back clean, but hes still sore,” Williams said on a Zoom call Saturday.

With Craig’s established role as one of the first three players off the bench for the Suns, Williams could have an important minutes void to fill.

“We have guys that can play more minutes. Cam Johnson didn’t get a ton of minutes, he can play more. Then you have Abdel (Nader). Duly can play in those minutes,” Williams said.

Johnson led all Suns bench players with 18 minutes played in the win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2.

He knocked down two of his four shot attempts, which were all from three-point range.

Cam Payne played the second most minutes off the bench, subbing in for just 10 minutes.

Craig, Nader and Frank Kaminsky each had a combined 10 minutes as all five starters for Phoenix logged 37 minutes or more.

It was the most minutes the Suns starters were asked to play in a game this postseason.

Craig has been an integral part of Williams’ rotation in the playoffs, averaging 12.5 minutes per game to go with 4.3 points and 3.5 rebounds.

He has improved his three-point percentage from 36.8% in the regular season to 45.2% in the playoffs.

Johnson has led the Suns in minutes off the bench in the post season and is second on the team in steals per game with 1.1.

Nader has played in just four postseason games due to injury but averaged 14.5 minutes per game in the regular season.

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