ORLANDO, Fla. — As soon as Cam Thomas came back, so did the Nets offense. But in the end, it was their defense that let them down against the Magic.
The guard played his first game since suffering a hamstring injury before Thanksgiving and looked like he never missed a beat, although the Nets couldn’t hold a 21-point cushion or stop Cole Anthony on the game-winning drive that sent them collapsing to a 102-101 loss before a sellout crowd of 19,397 at Kia Center.
Anthony had 10 points, all in the second half after Jalen Suggs left with a sprained right wrist. He drove for the winner with 0.8 seconds left.
Thomas, fittingly, missed the final shot at the buzzer. But his return bodes well for the Nets.
He poured in 25 points, six rebounds and six assists off the bench under a tight minutes restriction. But every minute he played was huge for the Nets, who traded away starting power forward Dorian Finney-Smith hours before tipoff. And with point guard Dennis Schroder already dealt away earlier this month, they needed Thomas’ scoring punch.
“We need CT to be CT,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. “We all know how efficient he’s been. His superpower is scoring. And he has to continue to be efficient and even be more efficient. And then his playmaking has got to go up, and defensively, he’s got to keep taking steps. So that’s a plan for him.
“Excited to have him back. A guy that you know can score in bunches and we can go through him and play second side pick-and-roll and just put him in action. So I’m excited. I can just sit back and let him do his thing, so it’s not that I’m doing much.”
Thomas had missed the prior 13 games after straining his left hamstring in Golden State. The Nets had been 8-10 with the eighth-best offensive rating after that win over the Warriors but just 4-9 with a next-to-last offensive rating since.
The impact Thomas’ return had on the attack was glaring.
“We’re excited to have him back,” Fernandez said. “His teammates were excited. He was excited, had a smile on his face. So it’s a good day for us”
But not a great end.
Orlando was without Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero, and the Nets still fell to 0-4 against the Magic.
Down 21-18 after Jonathan Isaac’s layup with 3:15 left in the first, the Nets held the Magic scoreless for the next 4:19.
The Nets harassed Orlando into 0-for-3 shooting with five turnovers. And by the time Thomas found Nic Claxton for an alley-oop, they had seized a 32-21 lead with 11:11 left in the half.
The Nets led by as much as 21, at 71-50 with 7:55 left in the third after Keon Johnson’s free throws.
They still led 97-80 when Ben Simmons found Jalen Wilson for a 3-pointer with 7:16 to play. That’s when they surrendered the lead.
The Nets conceded a 20-2 run, with Wilson fouling Goga Bitadze and the latter’s free throw leaving them down with 17.7 seconds to play.
Wilson earned a trip to the line himself and sank both to put the Nets back up with 6.2 seconds to go in regulation. But there would be no victory or even overtime as Anthony beat his man and got into the lane for a four-footer.
Thomas missed a desperation 3 at the buzzer.
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