CLEVELAND — Another slow start. Another double-digit deficit.
Another grind-it-out Nets rally.
This time a 117-112 come-from-behind win over Cleveland before 17,387 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
The Nets (13-5) erased a dozen-point, third-quarter hole, closing with a 20-6 run to flip a 76-64 Cavaliers lead into a two-point advantage going into the fourth.
In the end they held on to win their third straight — and 11th in their last 13 — to remain atop the East.
It was an unexpected boost from rookie Cam Thomas that helped spark the run to get them back in it. Then, it was the steady veteran leadership from Kevin Durant and LaMarcus Aldridge down the stretch that won it. Durant had four points in a 7-0 run to turn a 109-105 deficit with three minutes left into a win.
“[The veteran nature] manifests itself for sure, in good and bad. It takes a little while to get going sometimes,” coach Steve Nash said with a laugh. “But they find themselves in a hole, and they’re proud and respond. … We shut them down in the second half. We had to win this game with defense and they did it.
“The spirit was not great in the first half. The spirit was exceptional in the second.”
Durant — back after missing Friday’s win to rest his sore shoulder — returned with 27 points, nine assists and six rebounds. While James Harden had a season-high 14 assists and 14 points, the Nets’ Big 2 finally got help on the offensive end.
Aldridge had 21 points and 11 boards on efficient 11 of 14 shooting and helped deal with Jarrett Allen. Blake Griffin logged just nine minutes and didn’t play in the second half.
The most unexpected lift came from Thomas, who had 11 points on 4 of 7 shooting.
“It just gives you more confidence that the coach actually believes in you to come in, in games like this to spark a run for the team. I played great defense, sparked a run like that, hit open shots when KD kicked it to me, and Patty [Mills],” said Thomas, who had eight points in that 20-6 run that got the Nets back in it, with Durant and Harden actually looking for the first-round pick and hitting him for jumpers.
“That’s big time for the two best players to have trust in you to knock down open shots. That’s big time.”
Thomas was confident enough to share that Durant not only doesn’t want to play him one-on-one, but that when they do in shootaround post-up drills, “I beat him.”
Durant’s memory was a little different.
“It was more than ridiculous. He was lying for sure. I definitely beat him 13 to five. And those five shots that he made, I turned my back and was like ‘go ahead,’ ” said Durant, adding it’s an ongoing game which will get tallied at season’s end — a tally that he vows will now grow, due to the rookie’s hubris.
Still, with the Nets’ offense shorthanded and floundering, Nash went to Thomas off the bench for a spark. Down 80-71 late in the third, Thomas had eight points and Mills five in a 13-2 run.
“He gave us the boost we needed,” Durant said.
Thomas’ pull-up with five seconds left in the third gave the Nets an 84-82 lead going into the fourth.
The Nets trailed, 105-102, with 3:31 left after Darius Garland (24 points, 11 assists) hit a jumper. But Durant hit an 11-foot turnaround to cut it to one. After James Johnson stole the ball from Garland, he hit Durant for a knifing layup.
Johnson found Mills for a 3-pointer to make it 109-105 with 2:15 left.
“We went to switching everything instead of just 1-through-4. But more importantly than that, we just said at halftime we’ve got to get into bodies,” Nash said. “We weren’t as diligent with our physicality and presence, and they were getting good opportunities. We had to change that and flip that. I thought their physicality, attentiveness was much better.”