Player grades: Cam Thomas scores 24 as Nets beat Suns 116-112
The Brooklyn Nets visited the Footprint Center on Wednesday to battle the Phoenix Suns and won 116-112.
For the Nets, Cam Thomas had 24 points and four assists while Mikal Bridges had 21 points and three rebounds. Spencer Dinwiddie had 16 points and Cam Johnson had 15 points.
For the Suns, Devin Booker had 34 points and 12 assists while Kevin Durant had 27 points and six rebounds. Jusuf Nurkic had 15 points and Bradley Beal had 14 points.
In the first half, the Nets had a slow start to the game as they were missing some shots that they normally make, especially within the flow of their normal offense. The Suns’ big three had a solid first half together as they combined for 36 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field, including 17 points from Booker.
In the second half, the Suns came out playing like they did in the second quarter to get back into the game, but in the third, they outscored the Nets 32-22 thanks to some superb playing by Booker. In the fourth quarter, Brooklyn turned things around thanks to some clutch plays from Thomas, Bridges, and Dinwiddie.
Here are your Nets player grades following Wednesday’s win:
Spencer Dinwiddie: A
Dinwiddie did not have the most impactful game in terms of scoring the basketball, but he did a good game of letting the game tell him what to do with the ball. In this one, Dinwiddie’s job was to facilitate the offense and set up his teammates, including Cam Johnson who had his own kind of revenge game against his former team. Dinwiddie did a good job of rebounding the basketball from his point guard position, but he had some trouble defending without fouling which is usually not an issue for him. Also, Dinwiddie had an outstanding fourth quarter that allowed the Nets to close this game out against the Suns.
Cam Thomas: B-
Unfortunately for the Nets, Thomas struggled shooting the ball once again. At this point, it’s hard to determine why Thomas is struggled so much from the field other than he just doesn’t have the touch right now. Thomas has been getting plenty of good looks lately, but he just can’t find the basket right now on some plays that seem pretty routine for his game. Thomas did a good job of putting pressure on the rim so that he could draw some free-throws and get some easy points that way.
Mikal Bridges: B-
In his first game back in Phoenix since he was traded for Kevin Durant, Bridges did not have his most efficient offensive shooting game. Similar to Cam Thomas, Bridges was getting a good amount of shots that he has been making routinely throughout this season, including some mid-range shots that just were not falling. Despite his shot not falling as much as he’s used to, Bridges found other ways to make an impact as he did a good job of making plays for others and he made a great effort in guarding Devin Booker on the pick-and-rolls.
Cam Johnson: B
Johnson had a solid shooting game in his return to Phoenix as he seemingly couldn’t miss from three-point range. He did not take many shots and that may have been due to how the Suns were defending him off the ball once he started to hit them from deep. Johnson had a great all-around game as he provided some value with his rebounding, passing, and how much effort he was giving on the defensive end to make things harder for Devin Booker and Kevin Durant when he could.
Nic Claxton: B
Claxton had a solid performance in this one as it seemed that most of his points came off a lob pass, which has been his bread-and-butter this season. Claxton didn’t get many opportunities to work in the post against Jusuf Nurkic or Kevin Durant, but he did take and make his first three-point shot this campaign. Other than that, Claxton did a great job on the boards and did a serviceable job of limiting how much impact Nurkic had on the game.
Day'Ron Sharpe: C-
Sharpe did not play much in this one despite usually being the primary backup to starting center Nic Claxton. That was because of how well Trendon Watford played off the bench as the Nets wanted to play with more of a small-ball lineup once Nurkic left the game. In his time on the floor, Sharpe did not get much done other than grabbing a few rebounds and having defensive three-seconds called on him.
Dorian Finney-Smith: B-
Finney-Smith had a great performance in this one despite not having much success from behind the three-point line. He is one of the Nets’ best shooters and yet, he still made an impact in the scoring column without needing to hit a lot of three-pointers. That was because of the way that Finney-Smith was finishing at the basket and had arguably his best performance attacking the rim. Finney-Smith also did a great job of rebounding the basketball and playing the passing lanes while trying to help on Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.
Royce O'Neale: B+
O’Neale had a good overall performance in this contest as he was making his typical amount of three-pointers. As usual, O’Neale’s scoring output usually depends on how well he’s shooting the three-ball and in this one, it was good enough for him to give the Suns trouble from deep. He was surprisingly not active on the glass, but O’Neale did a great job of finding his teammates with some spot-on precision passing.
Trendon Watford: B
Watford had a solid outing and provided a boost off the bench that the Nets needed with their going to a small-ball lineup when Nic Claxton went to the bench. Watford has a specific kind of game in which he’s more of a slasher than he is a perimeter player, but he use his craftiness to get to the rim with the best of them. While Watford did not do much else that showed on the box score, he did bring some ball-handling and pace to the offense that Brooklyn misses without Ben Simmons keeping that energy and tempo going for long stretches of time.
