Cam Thomas is still a bucket — and the Nets are going have their hands full in their first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Those are the two takeaways from Brooklyn’s 134-105 loss to the Sixers in Sunday’s season finale, a game both teams opted to rest their starters and key rotation players.
Thomas erupted for 46 points on 16-of-29 shooting from the field in a scintillating display of his isolation scoring abilities. He became the fifth player in Nets franchise history with four or more 40-point games in a season, with the other three coming in the wake of Kyrie Irving’s midseason trade request.
Yet the depleted Nets remained a class below the depleted 76ers in a foreshadowing of what’s to come in the first round of the playoffs.
Philadelphia sat its entire starting five — Joel Embiid, James Harden, Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey and P.J. Tucker — plus sixth man De’Anthony Melton against the Nets. Head coach Jacque Vaughn played Mikal Bridges four seconds to tally his 83rd game played of the season, then sat him, alongside starters Nic Claxton, Dorian Finney-Smith, Cam Johnson and Spencer Dinwiddie. The Nets also sat reserve players Edmond Sumner, Royce O’Neale and Seth Curry.
It was a tactical decision for both teams for two reasons: First, neither side wanted to risk injury to any playoff-rotation players since the postseason seeding has already been determined.
And second, neither head coach wanted to show their hand. In a week’s time, these two teams will play at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center. The first team to lose four times will be eliminated from the playoffs.
“I don’t think either team is going to put any new plays that they’ll use in a series in for sure,” Vaughn said after Friday’s victory against the Orlando Magic. “We’ll be pretty bland, but we do what we do. And we’ll play hard when we get the opportunity to play them in a series. We’ll keep it that simple.”
Yet Philadelphia’s reserves ran laps around Brooklyn, building a 15-point lead by the end of the first quarter. The Nets chopped into the Sixer lead in the second quarter, but Philadelphia ran away in the second half.
The Sixers bench — their true third unit — scored 80 points against the Nets
Thomas has become a secret weapon of sorts for a Nets team that has prioritized size, defense and free-flowing ball movement over the second-year guard’s individual scoring prowess.
Entering Sunday’s matinee game, for example, Thomas had only appeared in four of Brooklyn’s previous 10 games. He played more minutes against the Sixers than he did in his three previous games combined.
So when the Vaughn opted to sit his rotation players, it meant Thomas would have the ball in his hands all night. Veteran guard Patty Mills scored 12 points and after having his contract converted from two-way to standard, second-year forward David Duke Jr. came off the bench to add 15 points.
The players who took the court Sunday, however, are unlikely to see extended play time next week.
The two rosters will look completely different when the games begin to count, and Thomas made a case for playoff minutes. A Nets team that could use some offense might deploy their secret weapon in the playoffs.
After Sunday’s loss, the Nets might need it.
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