The Nets had been rocked by a trade demand from one of their stars for the third time in less than a year.
Then, Cam Thomas put together a star turn, carrying the Nets to a come-from-behind 125-123 victory over the Wizards before a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center.
Thomas poured in a game-high 44 points, including 19 in the fourth quarter. That helped the Nets, who had been stunned by Kyrie Irving’s trade demand, erase a 23-point deficit and pull out a victory.
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“To be short-handed, to have one of your best players request a trade, to have your young players come out and have career-highs, to have two players go out in the middle of the game. You’re watching this, no Markieff Morris, no Seth Curry, two of your veterans and your young players come back and carry you. It was so impressive.” In the absence of injured Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis scored 38 to lead Washington (24-28), but fouled out late in the fourth quarter. Irving is just the latest Net to try to remove himself from the team. Former MVP James Harden forced a trade to Philadelphia last February 10 and Durant requested a trade over the summer. And now Irving has left Brooklyn both shocked and shorthanded. Edmond Sumner had a career-high 29 points starting in place of Irving. The Nets started off horribly, falling behind 44-21 with 49.9 seconds left in the first quarter on a Kendrick Nunn free throw. The Wizards still led 84-64 after a Porzingis foul shot with 8:44 left in the third. But the Nets used a 13-0 run — capped by consecutive Patty Mills 3-pointers — to cut the deficit to seven. That’s when Thomas dragged them across the line. At 21 years and 114 days, Thomas became the third-youngest player to score 40-plus points off the bench in NBA history. The Wizards led by as much as 23 points late in the first quarter, with the Nets only taking the lead for the first time in the fourth quarter with just under six minutes remaining. It was a similar story for the Wizards 24 hours earlier when they surrendered a 20-point lead to Portland in Washington. As per ESPN Stats & Info, the Wizards are the first team over the past 25 seasons to lose games when leading by at least 20 points on consecutive days. This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was republished with permission. PELICANS DOWN LAKERS AS JAMES MOVES CLOSER TO RECORD The New Orleans Pelicans have snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 131-121 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, even as Lakers superstar LeBron James crept closer to the NBA all-time scoring record. Brandon Ingram shook off a scoreless first quarter to lead the Pelicans with 35 points. CJ McCollum added 23 and Trey Murphy added 21 as New Orleans turned the tide against a Lakers team that scored 72 points in the first half and led by 12 midway through the third quarter. James scored 27 points and now needs 36 to overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387. He’s averaging more than 30 points per game this season and could well achieve the summit next week when the Lakers host Oklahoma City on Tuesday and the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. But even with history beckoning the Lakers remain in dire need of victories, and missed a chance to gain on the Pelicans as they both chase a spot in the play-in tournament. “We’ve got to win these games,” said Lakers coach Darvin Ham. “We had full control of the game.” Lakers star Anthony Davis scored 34 points against his former team. The Pelicans trailed by eight late in the third quarter when McCollum drove for a basket. New Orleans stole an inbounds pass and Jose Alvarado made a three-pointer to pull the Pels within three heading into the fourth. “It’s tough,” Ham said. “Their push was basically all energy. That one (third) quarter gave them life.” Midway through the fourth, Murphy connected on back-to-back three-pointers as New Orleans took a six-point lead on the way to their first win since January 13. — AFP GIDDEY FLIRST WITH TRIPLE-DOUBLE ON RECORD THUNDER NIGHT Josh Giddey fell just short of a triple-double as Oklahoma City set the all-time Thunder scoring record in a massive win over the Houston Rockets. The Thunder piled on a whopping 153 points — including 120 across the first three quarters — as they thumped the Rockets by 32 points at the Paycom Centre. “I thought our approach was great,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said post-game. “We knew the type of mentality that we wanted to bring to the game and I thought we really imposed ourselves on the game really early. “Obviously we built a huge lead down there, but early in the game we didn’t have that lead and we built it with a pretty blood-thirsty mentality. I was really pleased for the guys.” Giddey starred again with 17 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists, but checked out of the game with seven minutes to go to be denied of his third triple-double of the season. All-Star teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 42 points, going 14 of 23 from the field and 14 of 15 from the free throw line. “He didn’t do anything scoring wise that we hadn’t seen before, but I thought tonight was a pretty big leadership statement game for him,” Daigneault said. “When you needed a response like we did tonight coming out of the other night, you rely on your guys that are most experienced to play the most minutes. He’s an All-Star player now and you rely on them to be tone-setters and he was a man on fire to start the game.” KNICKS’ RALLY FALLS SHORT IN CRUSHING OT LOSS Just add it to the list. Tack it on. Yet another mind-numbing Knicks loss at the Garden — the 10th by single-digits already this season. This was worse, because what a feel-good win it would’ve been, down 17 to the contending Clippers in the fourth quarter. A three-point lead in the final seconds of regulation. All that was needed was a defensive rebound. The Knicks didn’t get it, Nicolas Batum sank a 3-pointer at the horn and the Clippers predictably overpowered them in overtime for a 134-128 victory. The Knicks wasted a brilliant 41-point, seven-assist, one-turnover performance from All-Star snub Jalen Brunson and a fantastic fourth quarter in which they outscored the Clippers 34-19. But they didn’t have much left in the extra session. They committed five turnovers in the final five minutes and didn’t produce a made field goal over the first four minutes. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard combined for 65 points for the Clippers, showing just how badly the Knicks (28-26) need wing help at the trade deadline, and Los Angeles (30-26) sank 16-of-37 three-point attempts. Julius Randle added 28 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Knicks and RJ Barrett had 14 on a dreadful 6-of-21 shooting performance. Before the game, coach Tom Thibodeau said he felt the Knicks’ offence was in a good place, but they had to tighten up on the other end of the floor. The first 24 minutes illustrated exactly that. The Knicks scored 56 points. They hit eight three-pointers. They had 14 assists on 20 made field goals. Seven different players scored. But they still trailed because their defence was soft, and that was being kind. The Clippers hit 11 of their first 17 3-point attempts and shot 61 percent from the field in the first quarter. The Knicks had no answers for Los Angeles on the perimeter, shredded by George and Leonard for a combined 33 points, 21 from George, in the first half. This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was republished with permission. NBA SCORES FROM GAMES TODAY Washington Wizards 123 – BROOKLYN NETS 125 Los Angeles Lakers 126 – NEW ORLEANS PELICANS 131 PHOENIX SUNS 116 – Detroit Pistons 100 LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS 134 – New York Knicks 128 (OT) Portland Trail Blazers 121 – CHICAGO BULLS 129 Miami Heat 115 – MILWAUKEE BUCKS 123 Houston Rockets 121 – OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER 153 Dallas Mavericks 113 – GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS 119 Atlanta Hawks 108 – DENVER NUGGETS 128
