Nets’ Steve Nash reacts to Cam Thomas’ career performance

Without their Big 3 available, Cam Thomas stepped up to lead the Nets for his best performance of the season in a loss to the Nuggets.

Without their Big 3 available, the short-handed Brooklyn Nets were forced to rely on several other players and it was Cam Thomas that responded with his best performance of the season in a loss to the Denver Nuggets.

Thomas produced a career-high 25 points, one rebound and one assist in 26 minutes off of the bench to lead the Nets. He finished by shooting 8-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, to register his fourth 20-point game of the season.

The 27th pick scored 10 points alone in the second quarter and was able to work from all over the court. From his outside shooting, to his ability to drive into the paint, Thomas had each element of his game working and head coach Steve Nash noticed.

We know he knows where the basket is and can score the ball. He is getting these opportunities and (we’re going to) continue to work with him on shot selection and making simple, early reads out of pick and rolls so that he doesn’t get caught with difficult shots. We know he is capable of making shots.

With the contest taking place in Brooklyn, the Nets were without Kyrie Irving due to his vaccination status. James Harden was a late scratch from the lineup because of hamstring tightness while Kevin Durant is out with a knee injury so the Nets had to rely on their role players.

Patty Mills scored 21 points, LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points and DeAndre’ Bembry chipped in 14 points to lead the Nets. The group held a 12-point advantage early in the third quarter but eventually trailed by 10 points in the final period.

The Nets managed to tie the game up in the fourth quarter but were unable to retake the lead. Despite being down three key players, the team was pleased with how it responded.

“It just shows we have a lot of guys that can play,” Thomas said. “For us to compete with a team like that in this kind of setting shows a lot. We just want to keep improving and we don’t want to stop there.”

The Nets have needed to turn to several of their role players throughout the season. They have mostly all responded when counted upon with Thomas among those that have given the team a good scoring punch in spurts off of the bench.

Thomas entered the NBA known as an elite scorer in college and has shown that ability this season. The result certainly wasn’t what the team wanted but to see Thomas have a strong performance was likely one positive they can build on.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

[lawrence-related id=49008,48620,45042]

[mm-video type=video id=01fstezd4rqned9v82q9 playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f1jxkahtwnvzepyp image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fstezd4rqned9v82q9/01fstezd4rqned9v82q9-b5d23191cb881fc0386a887392733ef3.jpg]

[listicle id=49105]