Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges propel Nets past undermanned 76ers
PHILADELPHIA — It’ll go down in the schedule as a win, a 136-121 result that snapped the Nets’ nine-game losing streak against the 76ers — four in the postseason sweep last year, five others in the regular season — and gave them three wins in a four-game stretch that maybe, just maybe, could spark something.
The context is important, though.
Philadelphia (30-18) didn’t have starters Joel Embiid, De’Anthony Melton, Tobias Harris and Nicolas Batum, and its patchwork lineup fell behind by 25 just four minutes into the second quarter.
But at this juncture of the Nets’ season, amid a difficult eight-game run that ends with the All-Star break, they’ll take a win, and that’s what Cam Thomas (40 points) helped deliver for Brooklyn (20-28) at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night.
“That’s Mr. 40 for you,” Lonnie Walker IV said of Thomas. “I mean, this is nothing new. … He’s a magician when it comes to putting the ball in the hoop. It’s like he puts a magnet on the ball every time he shoots that ball.”
With Embiid out, Saturday marked the Nets’ chance to steal a win this year against the 76ers.
He dropped 32 points in their first matchup of the 2023-24 campaign, and the reigning MVP had established himself as a candidate to win that award again.
Instead, Philadelphia’s offense revolved around guard Tyrese Maxey — in the middle of a career-best season by averaging 26.3 points and earning his first All-Star appearance.
Maxey (23 points) finished with 16 in the first half, but the Nets countered with a balanced offense.
Mikal Bridges poured in 23 points. Ben Simmons, in his return from a one-game absence, dished out five assists and grabbed nine rebounds.
Nic Claxton snagged 10 rebounds in the first 15 minutes, and finished with 15 boards to go with 12 points.
“When we play the style of basketball which is what this team is built for,” Simmons said, “it comes easy.”
After Simmons first checked in, the Nets used a 10-0 run to take an early lead, and after Walker drained a 3-pointer and Simmons dished a pass to him in transition, they pulled ahead by 13. Thomas made the right decisions on pick-and-rolls, coach Jacque Vaughn said, and those reads meshed with Bridges’ production and allowed the Nets to not only use play-calls but also read the flow of the game.
At one point during the second quarter, Thomas stole the ball and acrobatically flipped it to Walker for a 3-point attempt in transition.
His shot bounced off, but Claxton grabbed the offensive rebound, drew the foul and made one free throw to give the Nets a 24-point lead.
“The fact that [Embiid] was not at the rim, definitely to our advantage tonight because we were able to get to the paint and not see him staring at us,” Vaughn said, while adding later that the coaching staff reminded players about the losing streak and the 76ers beating them “a few times.”
There were still moments when the 76ers threatened to make a run, with Maxey and the replacements in the starting lineup trimming the deficit to 16 by halftime.
But Thomas almost single-handedly iced the game in the third quarter, alternating 2s, 3s and free throws en route to a 21-point frame to secure his fifth consecutive game with at least 25, and the seventh 40-point game of his career.
“I had a rhythm going to start the third and we kept riding the hot hand,” Thomas said.
This time, the Nets protected a 20-point lead in the final frame, too, even as the 76ers collected 39 points.
They’ve already made their margin of error extremely thin ahead of the All-Star break.
Their roster could look different by this time next week, too, after the Feb. 8 trade deadline arrives and everything — the draft picks, the moving players, the pieces staying and inheriting different roles — settles into place.
There are few constants about the Nets’ long-term blueprint.
Part of that stems from their short-term one not being consistently effective, fading with a loss just as wins start to string together.
Saturday could’ve been the latest example with an all-too-familiar result against an all-too-familiar opponent.
The Nets avoided a trap. And that, for now, could mark progress.
