PHOENIX — The Nets lost their leading scorer, but they didn’t lose their grit. Or the game.
Hours after finding out they would be without injured Cam Thomas for at least three weeks, Brooklyn ground out a 127-117 win at Phoenix and old pal Kevin Durant.
One player’s injury is another’s opportunity. And in the Nets’ next-man-up mantra, Tyrese Martin stepped up and showed out.
The young guard poured in a career-high 30 points off the bench to help the Nets (9-10) to their third straight win.
Then they poured celebratory water all over him in a victorious locker room.
“S–t, I felt like I was drowning in the ocean. Everybody’s throwing water, it’s cold. A lot of love, though. A lot of love. It felt good,” Martin said.
“Definitely felt surreal, especially in the environment and situation we’re in with this team. A lot of teams probably take us lightly when we come into town. … But we’re here to compete and play hard. So to do it on this stage against Hall of Fame players like Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, definitely a surreal feeling.”
Durant — who had 30 points and called himself a “Net for life” — was full of praise for his old team, but he got trash-talked by Dennis Schroder (29 points), fouled hard by Ben Simmons (14 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) and in the end beaten by Martin.
Martin was fairly sure the Suns and the sellout crowd of 17,071 at Footprint Center had no clue who he was. So he showed them.
“I just feel like they didn’t know who I was. So … they’re probably not going to really pay attention to you on the defensive end,” Martin said. “But I bet you they know who I am now.”
Martin came in with just 33 career points and 5-of-18 all-time from 3-point range. But he hit 8-of-10 from deep, one shy of the most ever off the bench for the Nets.
Brooklyn played without Thomas and Nic Claxton, but played fast. They piled up a 24-11 edge in fast break points, nearly running the Suns out of their own building.
After losing Friday in Philadelphia, the Nets have taken three straight to close this four-game swing, winning at Sacramento, Golden State and now Phoenix.
“They’re playing great ball,” Durant said. “People didn’t expect them to be out here beating teams like Golden State. They had some good wins.”
Add this one to the list. The Suns had been 9-1 with Durant, but Brooklyn erased a seven-point first-half deficit to have it knotted at 63-all with the Suns at the break. They seized the game coming out of intermission.
The Nets stormed out of the locker room with a 17-3 run, including a dozen unanswered.
After Ziaire Williams stole the ball from Durant, he fed Simmons and got out on the break.
Simmons threaded a perfect pass between two defenders back to Williams for a fast break dunk and 75-66 edge.
Cam Johnson drove and kicked to Schroder for a right corner 3.
Then Schroder finished a transition layup of his own to give the Nets an 80-66 lead with 6:39 left in the third.
Brooklyn spent the rest of the evening protecting it.
The Nets got some serendipity to end the third.
Durant got whistled for a shooting foul on Martin with :00.1 left, Martin making two of three for a 96-84 cushion going into the fourth.
And with their newfound endgame prowess, Brooklyn led by 18 and closed it out.
The Nets have their ninth win, nearly halfway to a league-low projected total of 19.5 that Jordi Fernandez reminds them of.
“It ain’t like he’s telling us we don’t know,” Martin said. “But he told us that the one time and it’s just been a thing, keep it in our head, keep a fire lit. So after every game he reminds us they had us for 19 wins. We’re here to compete every night. We’re going to get more than that.”
Simmons said Fernandez reminds them “all the time. It’s not more so for what people are saying; it’s just us having self-belief and believing we need to be at a certain level. And there’s a certain standard that comes with just putting on the Nets jersey. … We have grit up in the practice and that’s how we want to play. So it might not be pretty, but we’re going to play hard and come on and test people.”
