The Brooklyn Nets pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in franchise history in their win against the New York Knicks. The team was down by 28 points after the first half but a great scoring performance by rookie Cam Thomas, lead the Nets to victory. What was most impressive about the win was that the Nets did not have a single one of their superstars on the court. Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons were out due to injury and lack of conditioning while Kyrie Irving couldn’t play because the game was in New York ( Vaccine Mandates).
Julius Randle led the Knicks to an early lead and was a major reason the Nets were in a 28 point deficit. Randle had 20 points in the half and was extremely dominant. The eventual star of the show, Cam Thomas was struggling in the 1st half and only had 3 points in the half. The Nets began their comeback in the 3rd quarter and managed to bring the lead down to 14 points. Randle continued to be dominant and had 27 points by the end of the 3rd quarter.
Things went the Nets’ way in the 4th quarter when their rookie went off. Cam Thomas who has proved himself as a good scorer in the league, took over the game. He had 16 points in the quarter and even hit the deep three to seal the game. The Nets had 5 players with double-digit scoring and the 2 double-doubles from Andre Drummond ( 11 points and 19 rebounds) and LaMarcus Aldridge ( 18 points and 10 rebounds) were a huge part of the win. The other 2 players with double-digit scoring were Seth Curry( 20 points) and James Johnson ( 14 points). The Knicks were led by Randle’s 31 points and 10 rebounds but only had 2 other players with double-digit scoring (Evan Fournier – 16 points and Immanuel Quickley – 18 points).
The win is great for the Nets because of how they have turned around their struggles and won 2 games in a row. They look united as a team after the James Harden trade and seem to have figured everything out. While Kyrie’s unvaccinated status is still a distraction in the locker room, the Nets look like they can overcome it at this moment. We will have to wait for Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons to return to evaluate the team but even with their superstars out, the second unit has shown up to win games and the Nets have covered their rebounding weakness by adding Andre Drummond, which will be huge in the playoffs.
