PHILADELPHIA — Cam Johnson‘s sizzling start to the 2024-25 season continued on Friday at Wells Fargo Center. The veteran forward finished with a game-high 37 points in the Nets’ 113-98 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, and while Brooklyn came up short on the road, Johnson carried it on offense from start to finish in what was one of the more impressive performances of his career.
Johnson set a new career high with nine 3-pointers made and finished one point shy of matching his career high in scoring. Sixteen of his points came in the first half. The 28-year-old has now scored at least 30 points in his last two appearances. He did that three times in the first 297 games of his career.
If only Johnson got more scoring help from his teammates on Friday.
Cam Thomas had a solid offensive night, finishing with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting, but was bottled up early and down the stretch. Nic Claxton, who returned from a three-game absence, chipped in 12 points on an efficient 6-of-9 shooting. However, outside of Johnson, Thomas and Claxton, the Nets were lacking firepower, which sounds crazy, because Joel Embiid and Paul George did not suit up for the 76ers on Friday.
Brooklyn had three players finish in double figures, led by Johnson. Philadelphia had six, paced by rookie Jared McCain (30 points) and All-Star Tyrese Maxey (26 points).
The Nets trailed by only two points at the end of the third quarter but were outscored 34-21 in the final frame. They committed 19 turnovers, which created 28 points for Philadelphia.
The Nets fell to 6-10 with the loss and are now 1-2 in the NBA Cup East Group A standings.
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