The Nets saw something Thursday night worth focusing on going forward.
Even if replicating it might be difficult, it was something to keep developing, especially ahead of a must-win game against Charlotte on Saturday with a shot at a play-in spot still alive.
With the Nets holding a 10-point lead over the Warriors in the first quarter at Barclays Center, Cam Johnson passed to Nic Claxton down low, but he didn’t find any options against Draymond Green.
Johnson then cut toward the Nets center, who gave the ball back to his teammate, and Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer.
A few possessions later, Claxton was dribbling the ball near the free-throw line and saw an open Ziaire Williams.
He quickly dished it off to the young forward, who drained a 3-pointer to extend the Nets’ lead to 25-5.
While the Nets eventually saw the Warriors erase the lead and Stephen Curry erupt for a 40-point night that led to their sixth consecutive loss, Claxton showed he was a weapon at the top of the key in orchestrating the offense with a near triple-double performance that included a career-high 10 assists.
“Yeah, I think he played a simple game. Not all the games are the same,” head coach Jordi Fernández said following the game. “There are some games that the team is gonna need you to score more because you put pressure on the rim or he does a good job on transition to finish. And today, he was that guy finding his teammates. You see it with 10 assists, which is great to see. Ten assists and two turnovers, great, great, right there. So really proud of him. Like you said, close to a triple-double, we’ll see it at some point for sure.”
Noticing it was clicking from the start, Claxton racked up five assists in the first quarter and six by halftime, matching his previous career-high mark.
Claxton set a franchise record for assists in a game by a center.
Mike Gminski held the previous record of nine, set in 1986 against the 76ers.
Claxton has yet to record a triple-double in his six-year career.
He was one basket (eight points) and one rebound (nine) away from the feat.
But if he continues to hold strong at the top of the key moving forward and develop this playmaking ability, it could come sooner than later.
Cam Thomas called the center’s performance “big-time” and one that made the offensive flow easier for the Nets.
“Just to be able to have him at the top of the key playmaking, he makes it easier on us to get the cuts going, get us into actions quicker,” Thomas said. “If he’s making plays like that, he makes us really hard to guard. That makes it easier on him. Most guys, like they were doing, were trying to send two to me, he’s wide open. I think him developing his playmaking, he really helps us as a unit. Definitely need him to do more of it. It was great to see.”
“It’s great, you know… We can play high splits, pin-downs with him, just orchestrating the offense from the top of the key,” Tyrese Martin said. “He’s a great playmaker on the ball screen, but you know that’s a different side to our game when we have Nic orchestrating the offense, he gets 10 assists like that, I feel like we will be good.”
Claxton has endured an up-and-down rebuild season with the Nets while looking at four more years in Brooklyn after signing a $100 million extension over the summer.
However, he has found a little bit of a spark recently that may lead to some positive season takeaways.
He had multiple blocks (two) and steals (two) on Thursday for the fourth time in his past 10 appearances, which is a stretch that has seen the former 31st overall pick average 11.2 points, 3.3 assists, 7.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 2.7 blocks on 51 percent shooting.
