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    Cam Thomas, Nets react to Stephen Curry's insane viral shot during 40-point performance

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    Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez had one main focus when crafting his gameplan for Thursday’s Golden State Warriors matchup: slow down Stephen Curry. His team did an admirable job early on, jumping out to a 27-5 lead. However, that success was short-lived.

    Curry caught fire as the game progressed, scoring 40 points on 7-of-13 shooting from three en route to a 121-119 Warriors win.

    "Stephen Curry’s really hard to guard. That's why he's the best shooter ever and one of the best players in the world,” Fernandez said. “And he stays consistent. I don't think you see much frustration. He just keeps going, and he's in unbelievable shape. He ended up playing his game and scored 40 points. I still think our guys did a great job. That's how it looks when you play against a player like this."

    The Nets hounded Curry on and off the ball from the opening tip, face-guarding and trapping him for 94 feet. Golden State got off to a sloppy start, with the two-time MVP showing signs of frustration.

    Stephen Curry responds from slow start to torch Nets during Warriors win

    Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

    Stephen Curry picked up an offensive foul in the backcourt midway through the first quarter after putting his shoulder into Keon Johnson’s chest. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was assessed a technical after the play while jawing at the refs.

    While Brooklyn’s fullcourt pressure appeared to be getting under Curry’s skin, he said he felt the offensive foul was necessary to spark his team’s physicality.

    “We were playing horrible,” Curry said. “We weren’t playing hard, we weren’t playing physical. I think this is the first time I’ve ever gotten an offensive foul to show a little bit of fire to get us going. Whatever it took to kinda shock the system a little bit.”

    The Warriors responded with a 40-point second quarter to cut the Nets’ lead to five. Curry capped off the half with a 38-foot turnaround three that sent Barclays Center and NBA Twitter into a frenzy.

    “That one was different. I don’t know if I’ve seen that,” Kerr said of the shot. “Just the turnaround from 38-feet, whatever it was. It was a big shot. It gave us momentum going into halftime. It cut it from eight to five, and it felt very manageable at that point. And you could tell it got him going too.”

    The Nets did their best to not let Curry’s viral highlight take them out of the game.

    “We had two people out on him and he still made it. Nothing else we could do about it, just tip your hat off to him,” Cam Thomas said. “[He] makes tough shots, crazy shots. It can be deflating, but we had a good thing in the locker room. If he makes a tough shot, wash [it] away and drive the ball right back at him, get [the ball] in quick. But credit to him. He made timely shots like he always does.”

    Curry carried the momentum to the second half. As the referees began penalizing the Nets for their physical off-ball defense, Fernandez’s squad had no answers for the 11-time All-Star.

    The head coach could do nothing but watch as Curry ran off screens for off-balance, quick trigger threes and weaved his way through seas of defenders for layups.

    “We kept moving and flying around. We had different guys on him. But he makes tough shots. When he sees one or two go in, it feels like the next ten are gonna go in also,” Tyrese Martin said.

    The Warriors gained the lead early in the third and held it throughout the fourth. After the Nets lost Curry off an inbounds with a minute remaining, he hit a corner three to put Golden State up 119-109. The future Hall-of-Famer hit his patented “night, night” celebration to the jubilation of the many Warriors fans in attendance.

    However, the Nets weren’t finished. Brooklyn scored on the next possession before forcing a turnover that led to a Cam Johnson and-one. They then forced Curry into another turnover before Thomas hit a logo three to cut the Warriors’ lead to two.

    However, Curry collected the ensuing inbounds and knocked down a pair of free-throws to put the game away.

    “It shows you how resilient the group is. You guys remember we’ve won some crazy games because of [efforts like] that,” Fernandez said of his team’s late push. “The guys know whether down 30, 20, 10, 5, we’ll keep fighting. Right there it was 10 points with one minute to go. Cutting it all the way to two, I think it’s impressive and it just tells you about the soul and spirit of the team. We needed CT to make that shot but we also needed to create that turnover and it was just a team effort, so very proud of those guys.”

    Jimmy Butler added 25 points and six assists on 7-of-13 shooting alongside Curry during the win.

    Johnson led Brooklyn with 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting, while Thomas scored 23 points on 8-of-18 shooting with a season-high seven assists and one turnover. Nic Claxon posted eight points, nine rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the first starting center in Nets franchise history to record double-digit assists in a game, per Elias Sports.

    The loss, Brooklyn’s sixth straight following a 7-2 stretch, dropped them 3.5 games back of the Chicago Bulls for the Eastern Conference’s final play-in spot. It also pulled them within one game of the Toronto Raptors for fifth place in the draft lottery standings.

    The post Cam Thomas, Nets react to Stephen Curry's insane viral shot during 40-point performance appeared first on ClutchPoints.

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