NEW YORK — Cam Thomas is the real deal.
Brooklyn’s second-year scorer hung 43 points in his team’s valiant effort in a 116-112 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.
After a 44-point performance against the Washington Wizards and a new career-high 47 points against the Los Angeles Clippers, Thomas became the youngest player in NBA history to score 40 or more points in three straight games.
He also became the second player in NBA history behind only Allen Iverson to score 40 or more points in three straight games before the age of 22.
He has now scored 134 points in the three games the Nets have played since Kyrie Irving’s trade request.
Thomas scored 30 of those points through the first three quarters before a series of turnovers and missed shots unraveled his night. He bounced back late down the stretch to keep the Nets in a game the Suns attempted to open up.
The results, however, are in: The Nets are now 5-9 in games they have played since Kevin Durant’s Jan. 8 injury against the Miami Heat. For reference, they went 5-16 and rode an 11-game losing streak when Durant went down with a similar injury last season.
Durant attended Monday’s matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers and watched from the bench but was not seen on the bench Tuesday night. Seth Curry also missed the game with adductor strain, and both Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith — the two players who arrived from Dallas in the Irving deal — were held out of Tuesday’s game.
It was close, but no cigar: the theme of the weeks that have followed Durant’s MCL sprain, and now Irving’s midseason trade to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Nets have proven pure hustle, effort and quality coaching can keep them in games despite their glaring lack of available star power.
Those ingredients, however, haven’t been enough to get the Nets over the hump.
Meanwhile, Ben Simmons returned to the court after missing five straight games due to left knee soreness. Simmons attempted just two shots and finished with two points. He added six assists and four rebounds in his 27 minutes on the court, but was subjected to boos from the Barclays Center crowd after dribbling the ball off his foot out of bounds on a drive to the rim.
Vaughn pulled Simmons after a short stint at the top of the fourth quarter, though it’s understood Simmons, who continues to work his way back from offseason back surgery, is operating at a limited capacity.
Reserve forward T.J. Warren played in the second game of a back-to-back after missing four straight games with a left shin contusion. After scoring eight points in 12 minutes against the Clippers, Warren scored 17 off the bench on 6-of-10 shooting in just 22 minutes against the Suns.
The Nets have continued to put forth valiant efforts. They beat the Washington Wizards by two, lost to the Clippers in a seesaw affair by eight, and kept it close against Phoenix, succumbing to the starpower of Chris Paul, DeAndre Ayton, Mikal Bridges and Devin Booker, who returned from a groin injury to score 19 points against the Nets on Tuesday.
Close won’t cut it, not if the objective is keeping Durant content in Brooklyn. It will take some wins, and a lot of them. The Nets, however, will get some help when their new players take the court.
Next up: DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, hours after the 3 p.m. trade deadline.
