If there was one positive takeaway from the Nets’ disappointing loss to the Magic on Sunday afternoon, it was the return and sustained health of top scorer Cam Thomas.
Thomas, who had been out since Nov. 25 with a hamstring strain, “felt great” in his first game back in which he scored a game-high 25 points to go with six assists and six rebounds in the 102-101 loss.
The fourth-year guard did note some soreness, which wasn’t unexpected after the 25-minute effort.
“Yeah, I feel good. Obviously a little sore, you know playing, come back and playing high intensity like that,” Thomas said following the game. “So I am a little sore right now, but at the end of day, I feel good. Felt great, playing out there. Just got to do the other things for game rhythm, conditioning and fatigue. Just getting all that back to where I was, but until I get back to that, I’ll feel good. Be ready. Be CT again.”
“His first half was great; 14 points, five assists … it was on pace for an amazing game,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “I really liked his aggressiveness. It looked like he was just back, and shots were going and was looking great. And I’m happy that he’s back on the court.”
Thomas said it will take him a few games to get back to his vintage self after he shot 33 percent from the field on Sunday (6-for-18), which is a dip from his 45 percent shooting average of the season.
The high-scoring guard also missed the final shot of the game — a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer — but Thomas believes it was a shot he would make if he had a few games back under his belt since the injury.
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“Got a great look. You know, a shot that I’m pretty sure everybody believes that I can make,” Thomas said. “You know, still my first game back. Trying to get my legs up under me. So pretty sure if I shot that shot a few games down the road, it would go in.
“Some of the shots I was missing today, I don’t normally miss those. I think some of that is just, you know, obviously fatigue and legs, and just getting back to playing these kind of minutes with the defense, you know, keying in on it, almost, I just got to get back in the flow, in the flow of things.”
Across the 13 games Thomas missed due to injury, the Nets went 4-9.
Cam Johnson (left hip soreness) left the game against the Magic during the fourth quarter and did not return.
Following the loss, Fernandez did not have an update on the sixth-year forward.
Johnson finished with nine points, three rebounds, four assists, and three steals across 25 minutes.