Brooklyn Nets sleepwalk through loss to Portland Trail Blazers, 121-102

The return of Cam Thomas was marred by one of Brooklyn’s poorest efforts of the season.

Entering Friday’s contest against the Portland Trail Blazers, Cam Thomas had missed all but two games since November 25th, dealing with a left hamstring injury. He was re-joining a team that’s gone through a 2-15 stretch without him, as well as a more recent 6-1 stretch.

The constant is Brooklyn’s miserable offense, whether in wins or losses. A roster without any dynamic driving threats or 1-on-1 creators struggles to create clean looks, and that roster cannot afford to be 29th in 3-point percentage in the calendar year 2025, which they are.

But it hasn’t been a death sentence, thanks to the other end of the floor. Seems like the perfect situation for Cam Thomas to step into, and he wasted no time showing his capabilities against Portland…

What followed was a very Cam Thomas Cam Thomas game, looking to shoot first, second, and third. He scored 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting with one assist and three turnovers, limited to just 21 minutes as part of his recovery process.

“He got up 17 shots in 21 minutes, so, like, he he got open,” was Head Coach Jordi Fernández’s main takeaway. “That’s what he does. He still needs to keep playing to get conditioning, and get to more minutes. We’re gonna keep working.”

Cam Thomas said it was a “decent first game back. Obviously, missed some shots that I normally make when I’m in rhythm and playing, but it’s just the nature of being off for a while and coming back … It feels good to finally finish a game and not have no pain. So that’s the main thing I’m pleased with.”

The rest of the Nets were not as predictable. Despite forcing Portland into 13 first-half turnovers with their aggressive, trap-heavy defense, their performance felt surprisingly lifeless. When the Blazers hung on to the ball, they inevitably created an open shot, which they knocked down with ease…

Portland shot 64.4% from the field in the first half, including 8-of-16 on threes. And while the Nets are long overdue for their opponents to make some threes, they deserved it on Friday night. Chauncey Billups came in with a game-plan to consistently attack the Nets in the short-roll, and Brooklyn was unable to respond early, stifling any energy in Barclays Center.

Said Fernández: “Our rotations were poor, and we were coming out of the rotations slow, and there’s no magic trick … If you’re not willing to put play extremely hard for 40 minutes, whatever you do is not going to be enough.”

Their ball-pressure often amounted to a built-in advantage for a short-handed Portland team which saw all eight players (pre-garbage time) hit multiple field-goals…

The Nets didn’t disgrace themselves, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds in the first half in order keep the deficit below 20; the car just wouldn’t start.

Some players had nice moments, especially Killian Hayes, who posted 16/4/4 on 5-of-8 shooting, in addition to Nic Claxton and Thomas also scoring 16 points apiece, but each swish was outside the norm.

It was a shocking turnaround from Wednesday’s loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a rollicking, up-and-down affair in which Brooklyn shot 23-of-61 from deep, a season-high in attempts, which Fernández loved…

Brooklyn would finish Friday’s game shooting 7-of-29 from deep with though somehow, they were able to make one significant run in the second half, closing the third quarter with eight straight to cut Portland’s lead to 91-82.

Barclays got loud, the Blazers looked the tiniest bit uncomfortable, and it was Nets ball to open the fourth quarter. Cam Thomas came off a ball-screen, then isolated into a step-back three against Donovan Clingan, with help coming his way.

Clingan rejected the poor shot, which led to two points the other way, and on Brooklyn’s next possession, Day’Ron Sharpe set an illegal screen. It was over.

Portland opened the fourth quarter on a 20-6 run, as Brooklyn suffered the fate they deserved. They turned it over 22 times, tying a season-high and surpassing Portland’s 20. All those TOs led to frequent transition attacks for the visitors, who shot an incredible 71.4% inside the arc in addition to their hot 3-point shooting.

There are plenty more stats that sum up Friday’s loss, but none as succinctly as Jordi Fernández in postgame: “They were the better team tonight. The most physical, the most connected, they played really hard the whole 48 minutes, and we did not play hard consistently.”

Ziaire Williams played just ten minutes despite starting the game, including just the first 90 seconds of the third quarter. When asked if there was any injury he had suffered, Jordi Fernández kept it simple: “Nah. Nothing wrong.”

Final Score: Portland Trail Blazers 121, Brooklyn Nets 102

Milestone Watch

• Nic Claxton reached the 3,000 point mark of his career in this one, posting 16/5/3.

Injury Report

Though Cam Thomas made his long-awaited return on Friday, another of Brooklyn’s shooting guards sits on the shelf with a knee injury. Dariq Whitehead was ruled out with “right knee soreness” after leaving Long Island’s most recent game on crutches…

Thankfully, this injury doesn’t seem to be serious for Whitehead, who has undergone three separate lower-leg surgeries in the last three years.

Jordi Fernández said there is “no timetable” for Whitehead’s return, but added, “Like you said, soreness. So, good that it’s, you know, something minor and whenever he feels better, he’ll be back playing. So right now, he’s working, and working on getting it right and feeling good and confident, and he’ll be playing.”

As for Thomas, he said “we’ll see” as to the possibility of him playing on the second night of a back-to-back on Saturday night. Keep an eye out for Brooklyn’s initial status report.

No word on D’Angelo Russell’s (sprained ankle) status, but the Nets are now 1-9 without him in the line-up since he joined the team right after New Years.

Next Up

Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images

The Brooklyn Nets will immediately fly out to Detroit to take on one of the hottest teams in the NBA in the Pistons. Tip-off is scheduled for Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. ET.

It’ll be a big day for Killian Hayes. His first 10-day contract expires tomorrow. He is eligible for a second one. Almost as importantly, Hayes will be facing the team who picked him at No. 7 in the 2020 NBA Draft then waived him a year ago with then Pistons GM Troy Weaver saying the move was made because Hayes couldn’t shoot. Hayes has been shooting well of late though, first in the G League now with the Nets. In his last two games, Hayes has scored 35 points on 12-of-21 shooting overall and 7-of-13 from deep.

• Boxscore: Portland Trailblazers 121, Brooklyn Nets 102 – NBA
• Game Highlights: Portland Trailblazers 121, Brooklyn Nets 102 (Video) – NBA
• Sharpe scores 25 and Trail Blazers win 4th straight, 121-102 over Nets – AP
• Sloppy Nets fall victim to old ways, drop third straight with loss to Trail Blazers – Brian Lewis – New York Post
• Nets flat from start to finish in 121-102 loss to Trail Blazers – C.J. Holmes – New York Daily News
• Nets’ Cam Thomas provides scoring boost, shows some rust in return from hamstring injury – Peter Sblendorio – New York Daily News