Cam Thomas scores 45 but Nets fall to star-studded Bucks as Giannis Antetokounmpo dominates late

The Nets got the shots they wanted at the end of Monday’s matchup with Milwaukee. Giannis Antetokounmpo had other ideas.

Antetokounmpo, the Bucks’ game-breaking two-time NBA MVP, made two decisive defensive stops in the closing seconds of Milwaukee’s 129-125 victory at Barclays Center, spoiling a season-best performance by Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas.

With 28 seconds remaining and the Bucks up by two, Antetokounmpo chased down Dorian Finney-Smith in transition and prevented a game-tying lay-up. Then, with 15 seconds left and Milwaukee up three, Antetokounmpo blocked a Thomas drive to ice the game.

Antetokounmpo’s defensive dominance, coupled with his 13 fourth-quarter points and 36 for the game, helped Milwaukee overcome a 45-point explosion by the torrid Thomas, who has now scored at least 30 points in four of Brooklyn’s seven games.

“We executed really well at the end,” Thomas said. “We just missed the shots.”

Thomas’ attempt at the end came on a play drawn up for him, coach Jacque Vaughn said afterward. The 22-year-old scoring sensation was deemed Brooklyn’s best option on a night he made 17-of-33 shot attempts, including 6-of-16 from beyond the three-point arc.

“They did a good job of playing no-three defense so I went to the hoop, tried to get fouled or just get a bucket, and Giannis contested it,” Thomas said.

Thomas’ latest offensive outburst came against a Milwaukee team boasting two towering anchors in 6-11 Antetokounmpo, who won NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2020, and 7-foot Brook Lopez, who finished as the award’s runner-up last season.

The Bucks’ perimeter defense, however, remains a work in progress after last month’s trade for Damian Lillard, an offense-first All-Star known for his seemingly limitless shooting range. That trade cost Milwaukee its battle-tested point guard, Jrue Holiday, who is a five-time All-Defensive Team selection. Another Bucks defensive stalwart, Khris Middleton, remains on a minutes limit after offseason knee surgery.

With that in mind, the Nets began the game in attack mode, using their arsenal of ball handlers and downhill scorers to create shots before Lopez and Antetokounmpo could get set.

Mikal Bridges repeatedly circumvented Middleton and other Bucks defenders, then pulled up for mid-range jumpers rather than challenge Lopez at the rim. Bridges scored 11 first-quarter points and finished with a season-high 31 on 12-of-21 attempts.

When the Bucks did manage to set up their half-court defense, they primarily had Lopez and Antetokounmpo in a deep-drop look, making scoring in the paint a challenge. Brooklyn countered with a heavy screen game that opened up pull-up three-point opportunities for Thomas.

“We were able to get the switches we want,” Vaughn said. “We created different opportunities tonight, whether it was putting Brook in pick-and-roll, whether it was pulling him out from the basket, whether it was having a secondary action starting the ball on one side of the floor, swinging it, and then getting them into the pick-and-roll. I thought, overall, the concepts that we tried to play with tonight gave us a chance to win.”

The Nets were similarly aggressive in transition, getting the ball to tempo-pushing point guard Ben Simmons immediately after Milwaukee misses. Brooklyn scored 20 fast-break points, a total it’s reached every time Simmons has played this season. In the lone game he missed, the Nets only managed seven.

“Tried to play the same way,” Simmons said afterward. “Get the ball moving. Get downhill.”

Defensively, the Nets put the 6-10 Simmons on Antetokounmpo to begin the game and the lanky Bridges on the 6-3 Lillard. Simmons was satisfied that the Nets defense forced Antetokounmpo into three-point and mid-range attempts, even though he made several.

They had more success against Lillard, who finished with 21 points on 5-of-15 shooting.

Before Monday’s game, Thomas said he embraced facing Lillard, whose career average of 25.2 points per game ranks 12th in NBA history. Thomas got the better of his fellow guard Monday, at one point sinking a 30-foot three-pointer from the edge of the center-court logo over Lillard to beat an expiring shot clock.

“That’s who Cam is, man: a certified bucket,” Bridges said. “Honestly, our best scorer.”

Monday marked the fifth 40-point game of Thomas’ career and his first this season. The third-year guard is averaging 28.7 points on 48.3% shooting through seven games.

Despite his heroics, the Nets fell to 3-4. They’re 0-2 during their current three-game homestand, having lost Saturday as well to the Boston Celtics, whom many consider the Bucks’ biggest threat in the Eastern Conference.

Up next for Brooklyn is a matchup Wednesday night with the Los Angeles Clippers, who recently acquired former Nets star James Harden from the 76ers.