NEW YORK, Feb 17 (BUS): Rookie Cam Thomas led Brooklyn back from a 28-point deficit with 16-of-21 points in the fourth quarter, and the Nets stunned the New York Knicks 111-106 on Wednesday night.
Thomas hit a deep triple pointer to score with 6.8 records remaining, a shot that had Kevin Durant dance off the bench in glee. The Nets didn’t have Durant or Kyrie Irving, but it didn’t matter with Thomas making a good all-star impression, AP reports.
Just 2 for 11 to three quarters, Thomas fired a 15-0 in the fourth inning that gave Brooklyn the first game lead with less than 4 minutes left.
Seth Curry added 20 points and Andre Drummond scored 19 rebounds, mostly from one of the Nets players this season, in their second game with the Nets, after they came with Ben Simmons in the deal for James Harden.
Simmons also watched from the bench, seeing his new teammates go from 54 to 26 in the second quarter to win their second in a row after 11 games in a row.
Julius Randle scored 31 points and 10 rebounds in perhaps the most embarrassing loss for the Knicks in a disappointing season. They lost for the third time in a row and faltered in the All-Star break at 25-34 in the year after making the playoffs for the first time since 2013.
Well backed by some raucous fans at Madison Square Garden, the Nets snapped an eight-game losing streak and beat the Knicks for the fifth time in a row.
With the Nets playing without their stars, and the Knicks currently out of play, there was a national television audience but not a lot of local hype around the game, as talk about the city from a basketball standpoint focused more on the city’s vaccine mandate that prevents Irving of play.
There wasn’t much around the first half that would bring focus to anything on the field.
The Knicks made their first six three-pointers and raced to a 38-18 lead after one quarter, with the Nets leading 1 for 13 after the arc. New York led 65-44 in the first inning, and although Brooklyn trimmed it to seven midway through the third, the Knicks appeared to recover and advance again by 18 early in the fourth.
Hints
Nets: Coach Steve Nash said the Nets have yet to gauge where Simmons’ conditioning is, and have focused more on planning to eventually increase his debut after sitting out all season before being traded from Philadelphia last Thursday.
Knicks: RJ Barrett missed his fourth game in a row with a sprained left ankle. …Coach Tom Thibodeau said Derek Rose continues to do more work as he recovers from right ankle surgery but is still not allowed to call.
DOWNPLAYING DURANT
Nash played down the chances of Durant, who missed his 16th game in a row with a left knee ligament injury, and was ready to come back when the Nets return from their All-Star break on February 24.
“Obviously there’s a small chance, but we want to be really careful and safe with Kevin,” Nash said. “The setback is going to be tough when we only have, whatever it is, 20 games or so. We don’t want to put him in danger or have a setback where he misses six to 10 or 12 more games out of 20. So I think we’re going to be careful when we come out of the break.”
next one
Nets: Washington hosts Thursday night.
Knicks: Miami hosts February 26th.