When Cam Thomas has been forced to miss time this season, he usually returns in style.
The 23-year-old was a notable scratch in Wednesday’s 130-113 loss to the Toronto Raptors. He missed a month because of a left hamstring strain and missed D’Angelo Russell’s debut for precautionary reasons. Russell got plenty of touches — and impressed.
Thomas scored 25 points in just over 24 minutes in his return on Sunday. Entering Thursday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum, the Nets guard was averaging 25.8 points per game on healthy splits this season when coming off at least one day of rest.
The trend continued.
Thomas finished with 24 points on 8-for-22 shooting and added seven rebounds, two assists and two steals in just 22 minutes. He was held to just seven points in the second half after starting 6-for-10 from the field, but his 17-point first half ignited the Nets in a 113-110 win.
It was Thomas’ sixth game with at least 15 points through two quarters of action this season, and every early bucket was crucial, because the Nets nearly suffered another epic fourth-quarter collapse.
After Thomas entered the game for Russell with 5:23 left in the first quarter, the Nets ended the period on a 14-11 run to take a seven-point lead into the second quarter. Brooklyn is plus-33 in the first quarter over its last five games. Thomas led them to an early 16-4 edge in bench points on Thursday.
Defensively, Brooklyn limited the Bucks to 9-for-23 shooting and 1-for-7 from 3-point range through the first 12 minutes. Yes, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard were active.
The Nets led 66-54 at halftime thanks to Thomas’ scoring, nine more made free throws and a 15-4 advantage in points off turnovers. Cam Johnson and Nic Claxton got going on offense in the opening minutes of the third quarter, which helped Brooklyn open on a 14-2 run to go up 80-56 with 9:17 left in the period.
Similar to Sunday’s loss to the Orlando Magic, it did not last.
A 21-point game with 6:55 left, the Bucks went on a 20-0 run to make it a one-point game with 37.4 seconds left. The Nets final points in regulation came off a pair of Ziaire Williams free throws, which put them up three with 6.1 seconds left.
Lillard missed the game-tying 3 with .6 second left, but Johnson stepped out of bounds while trying to secure the ensuing rebound and injured himself in the process. Lillard’s final prayer missed everything, and despite being outscored 25-19 in the final frame, the Nets survived.
Brooklyn improved to 13-21 with the win, snapped a three-game losing streak, and secured a 3-1 season series over the Bucks.
Johnson finished with 26 points on 10-for-16 shooting. Claxton added 16 points, 11 rebounds, and a massive full-court stop on Antetokounmpo late. Russell, who started, had 11 points and 12 assists.
Antetokounmpo paced Milwaukee with 27 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.
The Nets will return to action on Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers at Barclays Center.