The Nets (26-39) were coming off back-to-back losses in Detroit and Charlotte, respectively, to begin their odyssey, which followed a hope-inspiring 3-1 homestand at Downtown’s Barclays Center.
Thomas made sure their wouldn’t be a third straight loss against a short-handed Cavaliers team that was without Net killer Donovan Mitchell and several other key pieces.
“This game, I had to get out of my comfort zone, get the team fired up and lead the guys by example,” he said. “Cleveland always tries to take away the mid-range a little bit, but with certain lineups, I can be a little more aggressive.”
In 31 scintillating minutes, Thomas went 9-of-19 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range, grabbed seven rebounds, handed out five assists and picked up a steal to post a game-best plus-27 differential.
“Cam displayed it all tonight, it wasn’t just his scoring, he was contributing in other ways,” Nets interim coach Kevin Ollie said as his team prepared to visit Orlando on Wednesday.
“We want him to be a masterpiece on offense and a masterpiece on defense. Just his toughness, his resiliency, it means the world for us.”
Thomas, who put up 31 points in Charlotte Saturday after returning from an ankle injury that had kept him out since Feb. 26, may be just the elixir Brooklyn needs to seriously push 10th-place Atlanta (29-35) for the final spot in the Eastern Conference’s play-in tournament.
Bidding for their sixth consecutive postseason appearance, the Nets are 3 1/2 games behind the Hawks with 17 games remaining, but do own a head-to-head tiebreaker based on their 2-1 regular-season series win over Atlanta.
Brooklyn can’t afford to sag on the road or blame its difficult schedule, which saw it play back-to-backs three times in February and once already in March.
“I’m tired of all the…
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