After five consecutive losses at the Barclays Center, the Nets urgently needed to bring joy to their fans, and they did so by taking advantage of the San Antonio Spurs visit. Not without suffering, Steve Nash’s side beat the Texans 121-119 in a game that needed to go into overtime to find a winner, even in this one it was difficult to break the equality. However, when time came to an end, Cam Thomas emerged as an unexpected hometown hero scoring the winning basket with 1.9 seconds to go, putting a stop to the bad moment of his team and allowing them to breathe with relief.
For many minutes, it seemed that the victory was going to come in a less agonizing way, as the New York team came to have relatively important advantages that, however, they failed to consolidate. Without going any further, the 111-99 with which they sent in the absence of 5 minutes put the crash very downhill, but the great closure of Popovich’s men made this difference insufficient. The Texans closed the quarter with a 2-14 run, culminating with a triple by Joshua Primo with 40 seconds left that put the tie and ended up assuming extra time.
Kevin Durant was commissioned to take the final possession for the Nets, but his final pitch fell too short and he couldn’t avoid the 5 minutes of overtime. At the end of them and again with a tie in the electronic, it was again the forward who took the ball to look for the winning basket, but this time the defense of San Antonio, who looked for the two against one, made him drop the ball, which ended up in the hands of Cam Thomas. This, without thinking twice, attacked and reached the personnel line, from where he got up to score what would end up being the decisive shot with 1.4 seconds on the scoreboard.
The Spurs were not even able to make a final pitch, as the Nets defense completely closed in on Lonnie Walker and made him use up what little time he had looking for a hole. The guard, who finished as the top visitor scorer with 25 points, could therefore not put the icing on his great performance with a final play, which cost the Texans their third defeat in the three overtime periods they have played this season. Dejounte Murray, with 19 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds, also finished as one of the most outstanding men, followed closely in scoring by the 18 points scored by Bryn Forbes.
At home, Kevin Durant and James Harden led their team with 28 and 26 points respectively, to which La Barba added 12 assists. Nicolas Claxton also finished with a double-double, in his case of 16 points and 14 rebounds (5 of them in attack), while Cam Thomas added 11 points including the aforementioned winning basket.
“I am confident in the work I have done,” said the rookie. “I have worked very hard and I have tried very hard, so when KD or James give me the ball in a situation like this I am ready to take responsibility.”
(Cover photo: Elsa / Getty Images)