Cam Thomas hit his most clutch shot of the season on Monday to lift the Brooklyn Nets to a 107-105 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Trailing by two with 35 seconds remaining, the 23-year-old dribbled to his left, stepped back and drained a three to give Brooklyn the lead. The Nets would seal the win after getting a stop on the other end.
What Thomas didn't realize is that the shot nearly didn't count. Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez tried to call a timeout during the play, but the referees did not see him. Thomas reacted to the fortunate missed call postgame.
“No, I didn't,” he replied when asked if he knew Fernandez was calling for a timeout. “I didn't know until he said it in the locker room. But I'm glad he didn't. I'm glad they didn't see him because that would've been real bad… From the last game, he said he wanted to get the two-for-one, and if he didn't have nothing going, he wanted to call a timeout and get us into something. But I already knew to be decisive in that.”
“I just wanted to play fast out of that… We want to get the two-for-one in a stretch like that. So really just seeing the clock and just trying to get as good a look as I can. That's all I did… Good thing it went in. It made me look good.”
Following the win, the Nets coach explained his thought process behind calling a timeout on the game-deciding play.
Jordi Fernandez explains why he nearly negated Cam Thomas game-winner
Fernandez recalled a similar sequence that ended poorly down the stretch of Saturday's loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“We've already talked about that because it happened in the Cleveland game where we had 46 seconds, and I let the guys go, and it became a broken play,” he said. “I told the guys if it gets to 37 [seconds] and we're unorganized, I'm gonna call it. And I saw ourselves unorganized, I was calling it, but then CT he did what he does, [hits the] stepback three. Thanked the basketball gods because I was really calling timeout.”
Thomas finished the win with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from three. His game-winner continues a string of late-game heroics with the Nets. He ranks third in the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring this season, averaging 8.9 points per game on 56/50/87 shooting splits, behind only LaMelo Ball and Scottie Barnes.
Thomas ranks fourth in the NBA in clutch scoring. He's posted 31 points in the final five minutes of games within five points, behind only Nikola Jokic, DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Durant. The fourth-year guard is 4-of-8 from three in clutch situations, the NBA's second-highest percentage among 20 players to attempt over five on the season.
The Nets received contributions across the board in New Orleans, with seven players reaching double figures. Cam Johnson continued his hot start to the season, scoring 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Noah Clowney added 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three, becoming the youngest player in Nets franchise history (20 years, 120 days) to make five threes in a game.
Dennis Schroder tallied 14 points, while Nic Claxton chipped in 13 points. Ziaire Williams scored 12 points while playing lockdown defense on Brandon Ingram on several possessions in the final minutes. Ingram scored two points on 0-of-5 shooting in the second half after tallying 22 in the first half.
Ben Simmons provided a spark early for the Nets, dishing out 10 of his 12 assists in the first half. He added six points on 3-of-5 shooting.
The win brings the Nets to 5-6 on the season. Thomas and Co. will play host to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday before back-to-back matchups against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
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