Nic Claxton may not be back to starting, or even to full speed yet, but he was good enough Sunday to help slow Giannis Antetokounmpo and hand the Nets their first win.
“Nic said it after the Orlando game, I gotta be better. And [Sunday] he played like we want him to play, like one of the best defensive players in the NBA … or the best,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “That’s what I’m gonna challenge him to do, is have high standards, because we have high expectations from you. “And he brought that, also that leadership that we need, being the anchor of the defense, communicating at all times, and very happy to see Nic performing like that.”
Claxton came off the bench for a third straight game after a hamstring injury sidelined the big man for the entire preseason.
But he had a double-double (10 points, 11 boards, two blocks in 22 minutes of playing time). And he platooned with Ben Simmons to keep Antetokounmpo from wrecking the game plan as he so often does.
The former MVP has utterly dominated the Nets in the past, his second-highest career average against any team coming against Brooklyn.
Antetokounmpo averaged 29.7 points against the Nets last season, and 34.0 against them the year prior. But they held him to 22 points on Sunday, just eight in the first half.
“It’s on all five guys against a guy like Giannis. It’s on everybody to be on the same page to all load up. It’s not just on me or Ben or whoever is guarding him,” Claxton said. “I didn’t feel like I was out there by myself. Everybody, the whole defense, we had a great game plan from the coaches and we did a great job executing.”
After logging just 15:25 off the bench in the opener that he was ejected from and seeing that raised to 20:26 on Friday in Orlando, Claxton had his playing time raised again.
But he still isn’t 100 percent.
“I’m still finding [my rhythm]. I’m still finding it,” Claxton said. “It’s gonna take some time. But I felt better today being out there just helping out trying to just make something positive happen on every single possession. And I did that.”
Cam Thomas had 32 points, 25 in the second half.
His 99 points through three games tied Kevin Durant for second-most through three games to start a Nets season. Kyrie Irving has the record with 113 in 2019-20.
Bojan Bogdanovic (left foot recovery), Day’Ron Sharpe (left hamstring) and Trendon Watford (left hamstring) were all out.
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The Nets have seen their valuation jump to $4.8 billion according to the latest Forbes analysis, moving them into eighth-highest in the NBA out of 30.
That valuation is up 25 percent from a year ago, tied with the Bucks and Grizzlies for the second-biggest increase in the league.
The Celtics had the biggest jump at 28 percent.
Perhaps most notably, after losing money for years, Forbes estimated they made $43 million in operating income in 2022-23 on overall revenue of $381 million.
