ORLANDO — Trailing by five points with 43.5 seconds remaining, Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley decided his team had enough time to get a defensive stop without fouling and score enough in 19 seconds to make a miraculous comeback.
The Milwaukee Bucks narrowly got across half court to avoid an eight-second violation before holding the ball, expecting a foul to elongate the game. The newly acquired Cam Thomas held the ball 30 feet away from the basket for eight seconds, but the foul never came.
When Jalen Suggs backed away from him to settle in for the final five seconds of the defensive possession, Thomas did what he does best and stepped into a 30-footer.
Bang.
The late 3 gave Thomas a game-high 34 points in only 25 minutes. The ridiculous scoring performance made Doc Rivers immediately pick a few names out of the mental rolodex of players he’s had during his 27 years as an NBA head coach.
“I’ve had Jamal Crawford. I had Lou Williams,” Rivers said. “And now, I have Cam Thomas.”
Having Rivers immediately rattle off two of the league’s best sixth men from the last decade to serve as a comparison following just his second game with the Bucks was high praise for Thomas, who is still only 24 years old. Thomas joined Milwaukee after being waived by the Brooklyn Nets this past weekend following four and a half seasons and an offseason filled with rumors of a long-term contract that never arrived.
“They’re similar, but they’re all different in their own ways,” Rivers said. “Cam wants to do right. He wants to play well. You can see that. And we’re going to give him every opportunity. I mean, the guy is a natural scorer, and you can see that. Probably forced one or two today where he overdribbled. You live with that, and you teach that to get that out of him. But overall, he was fantastic.”
Thomas started out slow with just two points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first quarter on Wednesday night, but started to get going in the second with nine points, hitting 3 of 4.
In the third quarter, Thomas made five of his six shots, plus all four of his free throws, for a 15-point frame that helped the Bucks take control of the game. In the fourth, Thomas added eight more points, including five in the final three minutes to get to 34 on 12-of-20 shooting.
“It means a lot, (Rivers) having that confidence (in me) early,” Thomas said. “I’d say everybody knows I can score … I mean, that’s the name of the game — getting buckets, scoring — but I am more than just a scorer. I feel like playmaking, drawing the defense on me, making the right play, I feel like that’s a part of my game that gets underrated just because I score the ball so well.”
While Thomas’ shotmaking was spectacular, he would likely be happy to find out Rivers actually highlighted a pass that didn’t end up in the box score as his favorite play from Thomas on the night.
With a two-point lead and 90 seconds remaining, the Bucks took possession following a missed 3 by Franz Wagner. In transition, Orlando’s defense was crossmatched defensively, and Kevin Porter Jr. saw Thomas being covered by center Wendell Carter Jr., so he immediately threw the ball to Thomas.
“You gotta get the ball to the hot hand,” Porter said. “No matter who it is, I’m gonna give the ball to the hot hand, and it was Cam. He kept us in the game, and he gave us that lead with some big shots, so I just wanted him to continue to flow.”
The rest of the Bucks cleared out of the way and let Thomas work in isolation against Carter. Thomas worked the shot clock down and dribbled himself into a stepback 3 look at a top of the key, but as he got ready to let it go, he noticed Porter’s defender, Jalen Suggs, with his back turned.
So, he swung it quickly to Porter, and the Bucks point guard blew past Suggs to the rim to draw a foul and knock down two free throws to give Milwaukee a four-point lead. Thomas didn’t score and wasn’t credited for an assist, but he positioned his team to win the game.
“That’s the main objective, go out there and get wins and see where it goes,” Thomas said. “But I’m just happy to have (River’s) confidence in my second game to trust me going down the stretch and finish (the game). I want to keep building that trust and keep it going from there.”
Even with the win, the Bucks (22-30) remain in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, still two games back of the Atlanta Hawks for the final play-in spot. They have put themselves in a deep hole through 52 games, but if Thomas can continue to play well when Giannis Antetokounmpo returns from his right calf strain, whenever he is fully healthy after the All-Star Break, the Bucks will have a better chance of climbing out from the bottom and potentially getting back into the playoff picture.
