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Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Lakers' Austin Reaves, Nets’ Cam Thomas had coolest back-and-forth of ‘pure basketball’

By Jeff Smith | Last updated 10/10/23

There’s something unique and beautiful about an NBA player going toe-for-toe with another in back-and-forth action for multiple stretches. It almost becomes like the rest of the players aren’t even on the floor and the two are just going at it and trying to drain shots over each other endlessly. That’s exactly what happened when the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets squared off in a preseason matchup on Monday night.

Nets guard Cam Thomas was on one side of the great back-and-forth. Thomas put his scoring ability on display last year when he set an NBA record as the youngest player in league history to score 40 or more points in three straight games, a feat previously held by Hall of Famer Allen Iverson. The player who stepped up to the challenge with him was none other than Lakers fan favorite Austin Reaves, who’s had his own fair share of moments of catching fire as well.

The clip was fun to watch and, as you can see below, began when Thomas knocked down a three. Although Reaves wasn’t defending him to start, he knocked down a three-pointer on the other side, and then things ramped up.

1 minute and 12 seconds of Austin Reaves and Cam Thomas trying to light each other on fire pic.twitter.com/pQjUuboExH
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) October 10, 2023

Thomas’s playing time was a bit scattered throughout last season. He went from playing just 15 total minutes in the team’s first three games to logging 21 or more minutes in seven consecutive games, then dropped back down to single-digit minutes for four of the next five games.

Over the months that followed, the 21-year-old averaged anywhere from 10.3 minutes in a month (December) to 27.8 in February, the month in which he set the NBA record.

As for Reaves, he nearly doubled his scoring output from the 2021-22 season, averaging 13 points over 28.8 minutes per game in the regular season. The 25-year-old had a breakout stretch in the postseason, though, averaging 16.9 points on 46.4 percent shooting from the field and 44.3 percent from beyond the arc over 16 games. During that span, Reaves averaged 36.6 minutes per game and was easily the No. 3, and at times No. 2 option depending on what group was on the floor, during multiple stretches of the playoffs for the Lakers.

Thomas and Reaves also finished Monday’s preseason game as two of the three top scorers, with the Nets guard pouring in 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting (4-of-7 from deep) while the Lakers guard finished with 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting, knocking down 4-of-6 attempts from three-point range. For good measure, Lakers forward Rui Hachimura actually finished second in scoring on the night with 19 points in an impressive showing.

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