Eastern Conference Recaps, Feb. 4: Cam Thomas Career Night Helps The Brooklyn Nets Defeat Washington Wizards

Thomas’ 44 points is the most by a bench player in Nets history

With Kyrie Irving (calf) and Ben Simmons (knee) sidelined, Cam Thomas scored a career-high 44 points to rally the Brooklyn Nets to a 125-123 victory against the Washington Wizards, their largest comeback of the season.

“Yeah, that was kind of my mindset coming in,” Thomas said. “But I think towards when I got in in the third quarter, I knew I had to turn up. So, we were still down, Ed (Edmond Sumner) came out and played real well to start the quarter. But you know, we was still down, so I know how to come in turn up a notch. So we get the win.”

Thomas’ 44 points was the most scored by a bench player in Nets history, surpassing Spencer Dinwiddie’s 39 set on Dec. 12, 2018.

Edmond Sumner scored a career-high 29 points and Nic Claxton had 15 points and 13 rebounds. With Bradley Beal (foot) sidelined, Kristaps Porzingis led the Wizards with 38 points and Deni Avdija had 23 off the bench.

NEXT NETS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Feb. 15 in Brooklyn

NEXT WIZARDS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Apr. 7 in Washington

OTHER NOTES:

-DeAndre Ayton recorded 31 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 116-100 win against the Detroit Pistons. Mikal Bridges had 24 points and Cameron Johnson had 20 in his return from a knee injury.

Saddiq Bey had 25 off the bench for the Pistons and Bojan Bogdanovic had 23.

NEXT PISTONS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Mar. 19 in Detroit

-Behind strong performances by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the New York Knicks 134-128 in overtime. Leonard finished with 35 points and George had 30.

Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 41 points, his second 40-point game this season.

NEXT KNICKS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Mar. 3 at Miami

-Zach LaVine’s 36 points led the Chicago Bulls to a 129-121 victory against the Portland Trail Blazers. DeMar DeRozan had 27 points and Nikola Vucevic had 23 points and 11 rebounds. Damian Lillard led the Trail Blazers with 40 points and Anfernee Simons 27.

NEXT BULLS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Mar. 18 in Chicago

-Jamal Murray had a season-high 41 points to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 128-108 victory against the Atlanta Hawks. Michael Porter had 23 points and Nikola Jokic had 14 points, 18 rebounds, and 10 assists.

With Trae Young (illness) sidelined, Dejounte Murray led the Hawks with 28 points and 10 assists and De’Andre Hunter had 20 points.

NEXT NUGGETS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Feb. 13 at Miami

NEXT HAWKS GAME AGAINST THE HEAT: Mar. 4 at Miami

Cory Nelson is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson. You can also check out his personal blog: https://substack.com/profile/114079068-cory-nelson?utm_source=account-card