Cam Thomas played for the first time since Nov. 5. And he won for the first time all season — in Brooklyn’s most impressive outing of the year.
Behind Thomas’ triumphant return from injury, the suddenly streaking Nets went on the road and thrashed the Timberwolves, 123-107, at Target Center.
Brooklyn has won 7 of 10, including their first three–game streak of the season. And it was Thomas leading the way. After missing 20 straight games with a strained left hamstring, his return was spectacularly successful.
Thomas had a game-high 30 points on 9-of-15 shooting in 19:48 efficient minutes off the bench, leading a game-changing performance by Brooklyn’s reserves.
“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,” Thomas said. “And we played really well, we got a win out of this. That’s even better for me.
“We knew they were a pretty good defensive team, they’re physical. So we knew coming in we had to play through the contact, play through the physicality. If the refs call it, they call it. If they don’t, just play through it.”
The Nets (10-19) steamrolled right through Minnesota, thanks to their bench outscoring the Timberwolves. They got 62 points from the bench, and Thomas was at the heart of that.
Brooklyn had been 0-7 when Thomas got hurt just minutes into their Nov. 5 game at Indiana. They won that contest and turned their season around, now 10-12 since behind stout defense and egalitarian offense. There had been questions about how Thomas’ iso-heavy game and questionable defense would fit it.
Saturday, the answer was just fine.
Thomas was a game-high plus-30 and was on fire right out of the gate, showing no rust whatsoever from his long layoff. He scored nine quick first-quarter points. He had a dozen by halftime in just eight minutes, thanks to a trio of and-ones.
Michael Porter Jr. had 27 points on 9-of–16 shooting with 10 rebounds.
The Timberwolves (20-12) had won 10 of their past 13 games, and Anthony Edwards had 28 points after being questionable with a shoulder injury.
But clinging to an 85-80 edge, the Nets reeled off a 19-6 run to blow it open.
Brooklyn shot 54.8 percent overall against a top five field goal defense.
The Nets held Minnesota to 44.6 percent.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
