Cam Thomas made his return a triumphant one. And an impressive one.
After Thomas had missed 20 straight games with a strained left hamstring, there were plenty of questions about how his iso game and iffy defense would fit into the Nets’ new style. Apparently the answer was just fine.
Playing his first game since Nov. 5, Thomas had 30 points off the bench on 9-for-15 shooting, including 3-of-8 from deep and a perfect 9-of-9 from the stripe.
“Really just [glad] to be back playing, feeling good to be back out there with the guys, making the right play, making the right shots. And we played really well. We got a win out of this. That’s even better for me,” Thomas said. “That’s good just to have everybody connected. Everybody being on the same page locked in, just having no drop-off between the starters and the bench. So that’s a really big thing, having no drop-off right now. So they did a great job on the bench, came in and did a good job. So we want to keep building on that, and we’ll see how that goes from there. But I’m just happy we got the win.”
It marked his sixth career 30-point game off the bench, snapping a tie with Spencer Dinwiddie for the most in Nets franchise history. It’s the most off the bench for Brooklyn since Tyrese Martin had 30 on Nov. 27, 2024, at Phoenix.
And Thomas did it efficiently, in just 19:48 of playing time.
“I’ve never seen somebody play 20 minutes 30. It was so efficient. It’s so effortless,” Nic Claxton said. “We need him. He takes it to a whole ’nother level, especially with the way that we’ve been playing, especially defensively. When things get stagnant, he can just score at will. So, he played phenomenal. And I’m super happy for him. He’s been through a lot.”
Thomas hurt the same hamstring three times last season, limiting him to just 25 games.
Brooklyn had been 0-7 when he hurt it again just minutes into their Nov. 5 tilt at Indiana. They won that contest and turned their season around, now 10-12 since behind stout defense and egalitarian offense. On Saturday, Thomas disrupted neither.
He was purely additive.
“[I liked] his mindset. He let the game come to him. He assisted, zero turnovers being a simple play every time. And I’m pretty sure the potential assists were high because he made the right play over and over and over,” coach Jordi Fernández said. “Sometimes you cannot control if those are going to be assists, but you just play the right way. And going to the free throw line, and as efficient as it was, it was just really impressive.
“We have to be careful with the amount of minutes we play him. And knowing that he had a short amount of minutes and using them efficiently, efficiently for the team. He just played, once again, the right play every time: whether it was to score against the line or pass waters. So, very clean game, very connected to his teammates, talking to them, telling them what to do. That’s it.”
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