In his first few weeks on the job, Brooklyn Nets coach Jordi Fernandez is enjoying some of the big shots Cam Thomas is sinking.
Thomas is off to a hot start, helping the Nets get off to a respectable beginning, and they will aim for a third straight victory Sunday afternoon when they host the Detroit Pistons.
Projected to be amongst the NBA’s worst teams, the Nets have split their first six games under Fernandez, who was hired in the summer after interim coach Kevin Ollie was not retained following last season’s 32-50 showing.
Brooklyn is 3-1 in its past four games with wins over the Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls. In the fourth quarter of those wins, Thomas scored a total of 29 points and the Nets outscored opponents 88-62.
“Just take over the game, try to win the game,” Thomas said. “Just credit to the coaches and my teammates for always trusting me to take us home in that situation. So, you know, it’s a credit to them. So, I just try to do my best to close the game out and get us to win every time. You know, just as credit to the coaches and teammates.”
Overall, Thomas is averaging 28.2 points, up from 22.5 when he started 51 of 66 games last season. The fourth-year guard has three games with at least 30 points this season after reaching that mark 15 times last season.
In Friday’s 120-112 win over the Chicago Bulls, the Nets briefly lost a 17-point lead in the first half before delivering down the stretch. Brooklyn outscored the Bulls 16-8 in the final 6:18, with Thomas scoring 10 straight points in a span of 1:55, including a 33-foot 3-pointer, and finished with 32 points.
“He made a crazy shot from almost half-court,” Fernandez said. “And I can’t coach that. That’s him being him.”
While Thomas helped knock off a Bulls team coming off a pair of 20-point comeback wins, the Nets are facing an opponent fresh off its most lopsided loss of the opening weeks.
The Pistons dropped their first four games by a combined 32 points, then earned a 10-point win at Philadelphia on Wednesday. Detroit followed it up with a 128-98 loss to the New York Knicks on Friday, trailing by as many as 38 points.
Detroit led after the first quarter in three of its first four losses but never recovered from shooting 6-of-21 (26.8 percent) from the field and getting outscored 39-13 in the opening quarter Friday.
Cade Cunningham finished with 22 points and has at least 20 in each game. He shot 10 of 19 from the field but was 1 of 5 in the opening quarter. The Pistons trailed 69-46 at the half.
“We just had a bad night,” first-year coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after his team committed seven of its 22 turnovers in the opening quarter, raising its season total to an NBA-high 107 entering Saturday. “I know our guys, what it means to them and what they care about. But just for whatever reason, tonight we didn’t have it.”
The Nets are 15-4 in the teams’ past 19 meetings, including an 8-1 mark in Brooklyn.
