The Nets had the team’s first game after Jacque Vaughn's dismissal, and it was not a pretty performance. Brooklyn lost in a massive blowout to the Toronto Raptors , losing 93 to 121. It was Kevin Ollie’s first game as interim head coach and was an unfortunate debut.
Cameron Thomas performed well as he scored 19 points and dished out four assists in 30 minutes. He hit some stellar jump shots, but they were not enough as the Raptors pulled away and won the game. Cam went into the post-game interview and gave his thoughts on what happened.
“Transition piece, it was like 46 to 10. Coming in, we knew they were big in transition, that’s how they get their points, and offensive rebounds, and we just didn’t do a good job of getting back and contain their fast break points. Gotta do a better job with that,” Cam said in his post-game presser after the loss.
“Even I was confused with some of the plays on some of the plays. But that just comes with it, it’s our first game, first time running everything against somebody different. We’ll get used to it and figure it out.”
Cam wants more patience for the Nets to become comfortable
This was the Nets’ first game after Ollie’s promotion to interim head coach, which is a valid reason behind the team’s slow start to the second half of the season. It’s fair for the players to ask the fans to be patient, as Thomas said after the game.
The former LSU Tiger felt the Nets came out with good energy but faltered as the game. That is a workable issue, which is why Cam wants everyone to be more patient with the team, as they’re improving daily under Ollie.
Cam wants the team to cut down on turnovers
The turnovers were the biggest problems of the night, which led to the transition points for Toronto. The team should be more careful with handling the ball, especially when the team has many high-level floor generals like Dennis Schroder, Dennis Smith Jr., and Ben Simmons on the lineup.
Smith and Day’Ron Sharpe, in particular, had shaky performances. They led the team with four turnovers apiece. At the same time, the Nets have to capitalize on their chances to score, including Cameron Johnson, who had a rough game, shooting 0-6 from three.
The Nets have a lot of room to grow, so Coach Ollie and the squad must improve in practice and translate that to the games they’ll be playing.
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