Nets’ Cam Johnson scores 29 points in pivotal 124-97 victory vs. Hawks
NEW YORK — The Nets were without Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas in Tuesday’s 27-point loss to the Orlando Magic. Few stepped up in their absence and the on-court product spoke for itself.
Brooklyn, with play-in positioning on the line, found itself in a similar situation on Thursday in the first of back-to-back meetings with the Atlanta Hawks at home. Simmons and Thomas were once again out of the rotation because of injury. But this time Cam Johnson answered the call — and he did it emphatically.
Johnson, in his second straight start following four consecutive appearances as a reserve, poured in a season-high 29 points with seven 3-pointers in the Nets’ 124-97 defeat of Atlanta. He started 3 of 3 from behind the arc and had 18 points by halftime, his second-highest scoring half since being traded to Brooklyn last season.
Dennis Schröder was on a heater against the Hawks, too, finishing with 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in what proved to be his best all-around game since being acquired by the Nets at the trade deadline. Brooklyn improved to 23-36 and is now three games behind Atlanta for 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Dejounte Murray scored a team-high 28 points for the Hawks.
Brooklyn was the aggressor from the start on Monday night, riding Johnson’s hot hand early on offense while playing a stifling brand of defense. It led Atlanta 34-16 after one quarter of action, its largest advantage after one quarter in over a month.
Any Nets criticism on Thursday was reserved for the second quarter, where they were outscored 34-22. The Hawks started the period on a 9-0 run to make it a 39-29 game. Atlanta began to push the pace offensively, which got Murray going and left Brooklyn off balance.
Murray, the Hawks’ top scoring threat without Trae Young available, dropped 14 points in the second quarter to trim the Nets’ advantage to six at halftime. Brooklyn went 9 of 26 from the field in the second quarter but did not allow that cold stretch to deter their effort at both ends of the court. It outscored Atlanta 38-25 in the third quarter to take firm control of the game — and they never let up.
The Hawks simply had no answer for the Nets defensively. Brooklyn shot 51.1% from the field, made 22 3-pointers as a team, had 30 assists on 46 made shots and finished with six players in double figures. Even Day’Ron Sharpe, who entered the night shooting 22.2% from 3-point range, went 2 of 2 from deep.
Atlanta was limited to 43% shooting (28.6% from deep) and had 14 turnovers, which led to 25 points for the Nets.
The Nets led wire-to-wire and enjoyed their fifth win of the season of 25 or more points. It was also just the sixth time in franchise history that Brooklyn made at least 14 more 3-pointers more than their opponent.
