The Los Angeles Lakers had a five-game win streak snapped by the Indiana Pacers on Friday, but they bounced back on Sunday night against the Brooklyn Nets, picking up a 116-104 victory. LeBron James was spectacular in this game, as he managed to outduel Cam Thomas on the other side of the floor to lead Los Angeles to victory.
James was on fire in this game (40 PTS, 7 REB, 5 AST, 13/17 FGM, 9/10 3PM), and he needed to be with Thomas doing his usual damage as a scorer for Brooklyn (30 PTS, 6 AST, 2 REB, 8/22 FGM). In their previous meeting, Thomas scored 33 points to lead Brooklyn to victory, and when asked about LA’s struggles to contain him, James simply said that he’s doing the same thing to every other team in the league.
“He does that to everybody.”
LeBron James kept it short and sweet when I asked him about Cam Thomas having two big scoring nights against the Lakers this season 😅
(via @erikslater_) pic.twitter.com/tCjoyH17FZ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 1, 2024
LeBron James managed to outduel Cam Thomas in latest battle
Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
In a bigger role with the Nets this year, Thomas has blossomed into one of the most dangerous scorers in the league, and he’s put together quite an impressive breakout campaign (22 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 3 APG, 44.3 FG%). While he struggled with his efficiency, Thomas got to the free throw line 12 times in this game, proving that even when his shots aren’t falling, he’s still extremely difficult to contain.
Thankfully, this time around, James was able to one-up the talented third-year guard to lead the Lakers to victory. While he had 24 points in their last meeting, LeBron wasn’t all that efficient in that one, shooting just 9/22 to get there. This time around, though, it felt like he couldn’t have missed a shot even if he was trying.
James was particularly lethal from behind the arc, where he shot an astounding 9/10 in this one. No matter what Thomas or anyone else on Brooklyn did on the other side of the ball, at the rate James was hitting his shots, there was simply nothing that could be done, and the end result was a victory for Los Angeles.
While Brooklyn’s season has been very disappointing, seeing Thomas make a big leap on offense has been fun to watch. He’s a gifted three-level scorer who is always finding ways to put up points, even with the rest of his team struggling to find any sort of consistency. Other areas of his game, such as his playmaking when he runs the point on offense, need some work, but scoring at the rate he does makes him a very valuable player.
James and the Lakers would surely like to find a way to contain Thomas in future matchups, but he’s turning himself into one of those guys who is simply going to score one way or another. Chances are these two teams won’t meet again until next season now, so it will be interesting to see if Los Angeles has come up with a new strategy to try to slow down Thomas next time around. But if they don’t, they can rest assured that every other team in the league is struggling with the same problem that they have when it comes to slowing him down.