Brooklyn Nets run away from Chicago Bulls late, win 120-112

In their quest to reach .500 through their six games, the Brooklyn Nets raced out of the gates on Friday evening against the Chicago Bulls, then after a few bad minutes following halftime, exploded in dramatic fashion to win their second straight.

It was a night of ups and downs.

First, Trendon Watford was declared to be available for his debut season, all the way through Head Coach Jordi Fernández’s pregame presser. Then an update to the injury report: He was now questionable. Then, the final update came as no surprise, as Watford was ruled out just before tip-off; his hamstring just wasn’t up for game-action yet…

At the same time, Brooklyn revealed its starting lineup. Nic Claxton would once again be coming off the bench, despite having two days to recover from his last appearance on the court Tuesday against the Denver Nuggets. Brooklyn’s on-court play has been nothing short of admirable through five games, yet a decision like that can only bring to mind the ‘T’ word.

But then you watched them play.

For the second time this week, they posted more than 20 assists in the first half, something they did only three times all of last season. Fernández spoke pregame about how his team has been sharing the ball, but they haven’t actually been able to play that fastat least in transition. Entering Friday night, they were 27th in pace, each possession taking an average of 15.48 seconds.

Against the equally frantic Bulls, that all changed…

Brooklyn was “only” credited with ten fast-break points in the first half, but played even faster than that, a pace that Ben Simmons thrives in. He wound up at 8/8/11, his best performance of the season.

“I think just staying on it and knowing what we need to do better, and then just making that happen in the game and making it a vocal point of just pushing the ball, trying to get opportunities and getting to the rim and kick-outs “Simmons said.

Simply put, they took what Chicago gave them… and Chicago gave them a lot. Through one half of play, the Nets were shooting a staggering 19-of-24 in the paint. It was a layup line, or in Keon Johnson’s case, a dunk line. He scored 12 points on five straight makes in a second-quarter explosion, the highlight being a 360-ish dunk through traffic…

“Just coming in and playing hard,” said Johnson of his mindset. “Just playing hard on defense, trying to get stops, and then the ball found me and I was ready to make a play.”

Johnson did record a steal and a block in his first-half stint, but that defensive mindset was not shared by the group.

The Bulls made 14 threes in the first half and Zach LaVine and Coby White hit a few bombs off the dribble. The rest came off drive-and-kick offense that obliterated Brooklyn’s front line of defense.

So when Brooklyn’s shot-making left them in the second half — they finished below 31% from deep, it opened the door for the Bulls to crawl all the way back from down 17 points. That’s not quite a Herculean task anymore, but Chicago did need Nikola Vučević to briefly reclaim his title as a Nets-Killer and make his first ten shots, operating both inside and out…

Outside of Vooch, though, both offenses went ice-cold in the second half. The 3-point shooting disappeared, and simply due to inertia, we were locked in a tight one through the fourth quarter.

“I think our guys understood that we couldn’t let a good team like them dish a lot of three, and they have really good shooters just to keep shooting open shots,” said Jordi Fernández, citing the big change after halftime. “From there, you saw the urgency was there, flying around. When plays break down, you can still fly around… they did a great job, so it was good to see.”

Then Simmons led a 10-0 Nets run to erase a 98-94 deficit early in the fourth, before Brooklyn turned to their closer. No, not Dennis Schröder on tonight, but his backcourt partner Cam Thomas. The 23-year-old finished with 32 points on 11-of-23 and saved his most impressive buckets to firmly slam the door on the visitors.

Up 110-109, he snaked a pick-and-roll to get all the way to the rim, then nailed a pull-up three to extend the lead to six. In both cases, Thomas benefited from great screens by Nic Claxton while seeking out the areas of the court Fernández has stressed he use. Picture-perfect. And the head coach couldn’t have been more thrilled.

“What (Thomas) has been doing for this group, it’s the identity that we want to have as a unit: work really hard and get better just to help the team. Obviously, he’s gonna be helping himself at some point, and that’s what I want for these guys. But right now, he’s doing what’s best for the team.”

After the game, Thomas turned the praise back around to his head coach, calling it “amazing” to have a head coach that believes in him. “The first day he got the job, he contacted me, said he believes in me and stuff, and just getting to know each other, I feel like that’s grown even more now. Especially in live-game reps. “He said he trusts me throughout the whole game.”

A far cry from both Jacque Vaughn and Steve Nash.

And then, because he’s Cam Thomas, he hit a shot —THE shot? — while standing firmly on the logo to whisk the Bulls away into the night…

As Ian Eagle said, “Oh No!!! OH YES!!!”

“I just gotta sit back and have the best seat in the house to just watch him do what he does,” said Fernández. “He made a crazy shot from almost half-court. And I can’t coach that. That’s him being him.”

Indeed it was, and after six games that the Brooklyn Nets have split down the middle, Friday’s win was them. They played hard, and they were very fun to watch while getting contributions from up and down the roster; they were indisputably the better team than the Chicago Bulls.

Worried about the tank? Or enjoying the ride?

Final Score: Brooklyn Nets 120, Chicago Bulls 112

Nic Claxton, Ben Simmons talk about low expectations

Have Nets players used the low expectations for their season — 19.5 wins was the consensus — to motivate them? Nic Claxton leaves no doubt, as he said before the Bulls game.

“Yeah, I mean, ESPN had us for the least amount of wins. I think we can surprise teams,” Claxton said Friday. “It’s early on in the season so we just got to be consistent. It’s an extremely long season, through the highs and the lows. We just stay bought in and keep applying everything that the coaches have been telling us. “I think we’re on the right path.”

Ben Simmons agreed but noted the season has a long way to go.

“We have to keep it that way,” he said post-game. “Whatever was said prior to the season, we’ll leave it there.”

Milestone Watch

• Another virtuosic fourth-quarter scoring performance from Thomas means he is still the NBA’s leader in PPG in the final frame, just under 12 a night.
• Ben Simmons’ 8/8/11 line marked season-highs in rebounds and assists, as he did his two blocks.
• Ziaire Williams added ten points, meaning he’s scored in double-digits in three straight games, something he did just once all of last season.

KidSuper Collab

Brooklyn’s fashion empire has expanded, as they are now marketing their collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist KidSuper, the latest line of clothing under the team’s private label bǝrō.

I think most of the items look pretty cool, but I’m included it in this recap as an excuse to post yet another classic Ian Eagle moment…

Next Up

Photo by Chris Schwegler/NBAE via Getty Images

Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons, who lost by 30 points on Friday night to the Knicks, come to town after a day off.

Tip-off on Sunday afternoon is scheduled for 3:30 pm ET on Sunday afternoon.