In his first few weeks as Brooklyn Nets coach, Jordi Fernandez is enjoying the hot start from Cam Thomas.
Thomas has been on fire, helping the Nets achieve a respectable beginning. They aim for a third straight victory Sunday afternoon when they host the Detroit Pistons.
Expected to be among the NBA’s worst teams, the Nets have split their first six games under Fernandez, who was hired in the summer after interim coach Kevin Ollie wasn’t retained following last season’s 32-50 record. Brooklyn is 3-1 in its past four games, securing wins over the Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies, and Chicago Bulls. In the fourth quarter of those wins, Thomas scored a total of 29 points, and the Nets outscored opponents 88-62.
Overall, Thomas is averaging 28.2 points, up from 22.5 last season when he started 51 of 66 games. The fourth-year guard has three games with at least 30 points this season after reaching that mark 15 times last season.
In Friday’s 120-112 win over the Bulls, the Nets briefly lost a 17-point lead in the first half but delivered down the stretch. Brooklyn outscored the Bulls 16-8 in the final 6:18, with Thomas scoring 10 straight points in a span of 1:55, including a 33-foot three-pointer, finishing with 32 points.
While Thomas helped knock off a Bulls team coming off a pair of 20-point comeback wins, the Nets now face a Pistons team fresh off its most lopsided loss of the early weeks.
The Pistons dropped their first four games by a combined 32 points, then earned a 10-point win at Philadelphia on Wednesday. Detroit followed it up with a 128-98 loss to the New York Knicks on Friday, trailing by as many as 38 points.
Detroit led after the first quarter in three of its first four losses but never recovered from shooting 6-of-21 (26.8 percent) from the field and getting outscored 39-13 in the opening quarter on Friday.
Cade Cunningham finished with 22 points and has at least 20 in each game. He shot 10 of 19 from the field but was just 1 of 5 in the opening quarter, with the Pistons trailing 69-46 at halftime.
