Cam Thomas kept up his historic scoring.
And the Nets kept on failing to support him.
The young guard had a third straight stellar night following the departure of Kyrie Irving, but the Nets fell 116-112 to the Suns before 17,093 at Barclays Center.
Thomas poured in a team-high 43 points, the youngest player in league history to crack 40 in three consecutive games, and the first time a Net has ever done so in the NBA. He even outdueled Suns star Devin Booker, who had 19 in his return from the left groin injury that had sidelined him since Christmas.
The Nets (32-22) offered Thomas little offensive help. Nic Claxton and T.J. Warren had 17 points each, with no other Net scoring more than eight points.
“It’s real surreal. Just glad I have my name in the history books being this young,” Thomas said. “Obviously I’d rather have the win since it sounds better if you have these way fun games with the two wins that we lost. But it’s just good to have my name in history. And I’m still going to embrace it.”
Deandre Ayton, who scored 35 points, goes up for a dunk during the Suns’ 116-112 victory over the Nets. NBAE via Getty ImagesThe Nets played without injured Kevin Durant and Seth Curry, as well as Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith (the players acquired for Irving). Ben Simmons returned from a knee injury and had just two points in 26:30.
Thomas’ finger roll left Brooklyn down 112-109 with 11 seconds left, and after fouling Booker, watched the Suns star shockingly miss both free throws. The Nets — on a 14-3 run to storm back — had a chance, but Phoenix wisely fouled.
While Thomas sank both attempts with 7.7 seconds to play, venerable Suns point guard Chris Paul responded by hitting both of his to push the lead to three. Thomas got fouled with 4 seconds remaining, sank the first and intentionally missed the second — he finished 18-for-20 from the stripe — but the Nets couldn’t get the rebound they needed.
Cam Thomas, who scored 43 points, celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer during the Nets’ loss. Robert Sabo for NY PostDeandre Ayton iced it on the other end. The center had 35 points and 15 boards to lead the Suns, who have won nine of 11. He shot 14 of 18 and had his way.
The Suns scored 26 points off Brooklyn turnovers, while the Nets mustered just 14 off Phoenix miscues.
“It was a great job of giving effort, and giving what they had back-to- back. But the little things are gonna matter for us now and going forward. Those little things are 16 turnovers and the 16 offensive rebounds,” Jacque Vaughn said. “My high school coach used to say don’t negate your hustle. We had plenty of times where we got stops, but we didn’t come up with offensive rebounds. So that’s gonna be a challenge for this group. And we put that in front of them.”
Nic Claxton, who scored 17 points, slams home a dunk during the Nets’ loss. Robert Sabo for NY PostThe Nets were still hanging around down just 84-81 when they conceded a 12-2 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters, and left them down 96-83 on a cutting Cam Johnson layup with 9:27 to play.
The Nets kept coming, and ran off 10 unanswered to crawl back into it. Warren’s free throws pulled them within three with 6:29 to go in regulation, and they got within a point in the waning seconds — but never over the hump.
The Suns used ace defender Mikal Bridges to try to slow Thomas, after the Clippers had put Kawhi Leonard on him and even doubled the youngster.
“Whatever I’ve got to do, I’m gonna do,” Thomas said. “But obviously I think it’s a sign of respect from having Kawhi guarding me, and then Mikal and the Clippers having a lot of doubling, trying to get the ball out of my hands, so I just look at it as a sign of respect from the league.”
