The Brooklyn Nets improve to 13-5, and are now in sole possession of first place in the East. Nets head coach Steve Nash has spoken at length this season about the team's “continuity plan” being disrupted when they learned Kyrie Irving wouldn't be available to them. Because of that disruption, they've needed their stars to shine and they've needed help to come from some unexpected places.

On Monday the X-factor was the 20 year-old rookie Cam Thomas.

In the 117-112 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Kevin Durant led all scorers with 27 points. He returned to the lineup after missing the prior contest against Orlando due to a nagging shoulder injury. And while we have seen KD wince here or there, it hasn't seemed to hamper his shooting touch.

He also chipped in with nine assists. James Harden had 14 points, 14 dimes, and six boards. Patty Mills and LaMarcus Aldridge played their parts notching 17 and 21 points respectively. Little of that was surprising, those guys have been the Nets' stalwarts. But Cam Thomas only had 12 points on the year coming in, so for him to nearly match that season total in a single road game was just the shot of offensive adrenaline the team needed.

The Nets came in averaging 24.7 assists per game. In the most recent contest, they really buckled down defensively, holding the Cavaliers to just 36-93 from the field, just 38.7 percent overall. Ultimately, the team turned to their surprise strength on the defensive side of the ball to climb back into this one. But they used the stops they were getting to get into what their coach calls “early offense” and moved the ball well in those situations.

When trailing by double-digits in the second half in a hostile environment, the Nets tapped Thomas to provide some of the shooting they sorely miss without Joe Harris (ankle) in the lineup. The 27th overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft, stepped up and provided a spark, dropping 11 points in his brief 15 minute stint. He was an integral component to the team's big third quarter 15-6 run run taking a lead into the 4th.

After the game, the Nets had some high praise for the LSU product and also some jokes.

“Without Joe,” said Steve Nash, “we were down a shooter, a spacer, and so we gotta go with some different lineups and different guys and Cam was great
. tonight he really hung in there, made some big shots for us and I thought was really aware defensively and I was proud of him tonight.”

 

“You gotta knock it down when you're wide open and I think I did that tonight so a great building block for me,” said the Nets rookie.

How did it feel to have the trust of Kevin Durant and James Harden to knock down open shots?

“Oh that's big time,” continued Thomas. “For the two best players to have trust in you to knock down those open shots, that's big time. Especially as a rookie. So just for them to have that confidence in me to knock down open shots means everything to me so can't thank those guys enough for that,” added Thomas.

But do they talk trash?

“Me and KD just be trash talking, about our scoring abilities. I say ‘I think I'm a better scorer than him at my age than he was and he doesn't believe that. And then he never wants to play me one-on-one. Cause we played one on one shoot around one time,    post ups, I beat him. Don't tell him that, I beat him. And James just tries to trash talk me. Me and James always goin' back and forth, friendly stuff you know, I love those dudes. Great dudes.”

But reporters did tell Durant that Cam claimed he beat him in one-on-one. The Nets superstar didn't seem to agree.

“But what was he tonight? 4 for 7, you know he feelin' himself. You know what I mean, ya'll [reporters] decided to talk to him, I'm sure his boys hit him up on Twitter, sent him texts. You know he feelin' himself. So he goin' come in here and fabricate.”

But KD has some words of praise for the Nets rookie to go with the banter.

“I mean he gave us the boost we needed. Somebody that can score, off the dribble, off the catch like that. You know when a young team like [Cleveland] they're gonna send all their resources at James and myself
 guys are gonna be open and they left him open, I guess he wasn't on the scouting report, but they left him open and he made plays,” said Durant. “That and-one was huge for us and I think that pushed us over the top.”

Here's the play KD is referring to.

What did LaMarcus Aldridge think of the rookie's play?

“Instant hot, instant offense that’s what I call him. Cause he came into the game and he was instantly getting to the rim, knocking down 3s, when you score that easy as he does, it was easy for him. I thought he was a big pick up for us as far as energy, knocking down shots and doing anything he can out there.”

It will be interesting to see if Thomas has earned more of a role for himself even once Joe Harris returns. For now, the Nets are cobbling it together. And a rookie who can perform under the pressure of a hostile arena and then keep a straight face saying he beat KD in 1 on 1 is certainly oozing confidence. You know Steve Nash can use some of that off his bench.