Nets defeat Lakers behind Cam Thomas' 33 points off bench

LOS ANGELES — Cam Thomas was eager to face the Lakers on Friday night. It was his fourth career game against them but only his second against LeBron James.

Thomas scored 33 points in his best game since moving back to the bench as the Nets ended a four-game losing streak with a 130-112 win at Crypto.com Arena.

The Nets (17-24) recorded their third-highest scoring total of the season and only their second win since Dec. 26.

After making a three-pointer late in the fourth quarter, Thomas — who shot 13-for-18 — stared at the Nets’ bench as if to say he couldn’t be stopped.

“I’ve just got to get in how I fit in, and just try to start the game off very efficient, very high, so it can rub off on my teammates,” he had said at shootaround. “I feel like when I start off well, we have good energy, we all get pumped up.”

Thomas did just that, making his first six shots and scoring 20 points in the first half. He had his first game with at least 30 points since being demoted from the starting lineup on Dec. 29.

He got plenty of help Friday. Seven Nets scored in double figures, including three reserves.

Nic Claxton had 22 points and 14 rebounds for the Nets, who had lost 14 of their previous 17 games. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 19 points and shot 4-for-8 from three-point range. Mikal Bridges added 17 and also shot 4-for-8 from outside the arc.

Lonnie Walker IV had 15 points off the bench in his first game facing the team he played for last season. Dennis Smith Jr. had eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter.

The Nets, who came back from a 12-point second-quarter deficit, ended a six-game road losing streak and shot 52.6% from the field.   

“If we can boil it down to one thing for this group, it’s leaning into being grittier,'' Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said. "So we've talked about it at halftime, showed a clip of us not having hands on people and so we have to have intention. Intention to play extremely hard with effort and energy. And we played for one another tonight.”

Anthony Davis had 26 points, 12 rebounds and six assists to lead the Lakers (21-22). Former Net D’Angelo Russell had 20 points and seven assists.

James had 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the Lakers, but he shot only 9-for-22 as Thomas got the better of a player he wanted to measure up against.

“He’s a great player, done a lot for the game, so I’ll definitely be playing at my best tonight,” Thomas said at shootaround. “I didn’t know it was a TV game, so I guess pick it up a notch.”

The Nets were on ESPN for only the second time this season. The league flexed the game to the network after the Golden State-Mavericks game was postponed following the death of Golden State assistant coach Dejan Milojevic on Wednesday.

The Nets forced 14 turnovers in their fourth-biggest win by margin this season and biggest since a 27-point win on Dec. 8 against the Wizards. They outscored the Lakers 102-75 after the first quarter and led by as many as 23 points.

After several players questioned the Nets’ inconsistent effort the last few games, they responded with a 38-point third quarter.

Trailing 68-62 at halftime, the Nets took their first lead at 76-74 on Bridges’ three-pointer and took a 90-80 lead after a 19-6 run. Thomas later hit a three-pointer while being fouled by Austin Reaves and Dinwiddie scored 13 points in the period.  

Before the game, Bridges gave the Nets a harsh grade ahead of their 41st game at the season’s halfway point.

“I’ll say poor to our expectations and our standards, very poor. Thought we’d be way better,” Bridges said. “We were good at one point and trending in the right direction. Obviously, it wasn’t great in the beginning, but we were starting to trend the right way and then kind of went downhill.”

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.