The kid carried them.

After the Nets had trailed the Knicks for more than three quarters Wednesday night, Cam Thomas led the comeback. And the rookie hit the dagger shots down the stretch of a 111-106 win before 18,916 at the Garden.

Thomas finished with 21 points, including a deep, game-clinching 3-pointer with 7.7 seconds left.

“Exactly how I drew it up,” Nets coach Steve Nash joked.

“I was actually trying to get to the basket, get to the middle inside the two,” Thomas said. “But I’d seen everyone loading up, so it was just like, ‘That’s a 3 right there.’ So I just took the chance with the 3, and thank God it went in.”

The Nets trailed by as many as 28 points, midway through the second quarter, before Thomas led them back.

The rookie came into the fourth quarter with just five points on 2-for-11 shooting, but he poured in 16 — making 7 of 10 shots — in the final period to lead the comeback.

He had seven straight points in a 15-0 run to give the Nets their first lead. And with the Nets clinging to a 106-103 edge, Thomas drilled a 29-foot step-back that ended the Knicks and got him mobbed on the bench.

“He loves those moments. There’s a gene in there somewhere, and he has that,” Nash said.

“He has a deep belief in his ability. He seeks those moments, so that’s something that’s inside him that’s rare. That’s an innate talent. His teammates have belief in him, so that allows his belief to be fortified. … He made the game-winner and all that, but he made a bunch of plays down the stretch. We went to him, a rookie carrying the load in a rivalry game like this in the Garden, it shows what’s inside of Cam.”

Thomas showed that when the Nets needed it.

The Nets trailed 54-26 with 6:44 left in the second quarter after a dunk by the Knicks’ Obi Toppin. Nash got into his team during intermission.

“I challenged them at halftime that this is a playoff-type physicality and we have to be more physical offensively and we have to be more physical defensively and it’s a test of our character,” Nash said. “Are we willing to stay in a game where we’re down big and just try to get something out of it? And obviously they get a lot more than we bargained for out of it.”

Thomas was a huge part of that. He played every second of the fourth quarter — running the point, outplaying Immanuel Quickley and dominating Alec Burks — as the Nets outscored the Knicks, 38-19.

Thomas’ 29-footer was just the icing on the Nets’ victory cake.

“[I was] holding my breath,” Nash said. “I wouldn’t have taken that shot. Having said that, holding my breath thinking, this kid might make it because I’ve seen him do it before. It was a big shot and obviously proud of him for this shot, but more so the way he handled the fourth quarter.”