The Brooklyn Nets run away late from the Chicago Bulls and win 120-112

In their quest to reach .500 in their six games, the Brooklyn Nets raced against the Chicago Bulls on Friday night, only to explode in dramatic fashion after halftime after a few poor minutes to earn their second straight win .

It was a night full of ups and downs.

It was first announced that Trendon Watford was available for his season debut during head coach Jordi Fernández's pre-match press statement. Then an update on the injury report: He was now questionable. Then the latest update was no surprise as Watford were ruled out just before the game started; His thigh muscles just weren't ready for the game yet…

At the same time, Brooklyn announced its starting lineup. Nic Claxton would come off the bench again, although he had two days to recover after his last appearance on Tuesday against the Denver Nuggets. Brooklyn's play on the court was simply great admirable through five games, still a Decision Something like that can only remind me of the word “T”.

But then you watched them play.

For the second time this week, they delivered more than 20 assists in the first half, something they only managed three times all last season. Fernández spoke before the game about how his team shared the ball, but they didn't really succeed fastat least in transition. Entering Friday night, they were 27th in pace, with each possession lasting an average of 15.48 seconds.

Everything changed against the equally frenetic Bulls…

Brooklyn was credited with “only” ten fast break points in the first half, but he played even faster, a pace at which Ben Simmons thrives. He finished with 8/8/11, his best performance of the season.

“I think we just stick with it and know what we need to do better and then we make sure that happens in the game and we make it clear that we're just pushing the ball forward, trying to take advantage of opportunities, getting to the rim come in and score kick-outs,” Simmons said.

Simply put, they took what Chicago gave them…and Chicago gave them a lot. In one half of the game, the Nets scored a stunning 19 of 24 goals. It was a layup line, or in Keon Johnson's case, a dunk line. He scored 12 points on five straight runs in a second-quarter explosion, the highlight being a 360-degree dunk through traffic…

“Just coming in and playing hard,” Johnson said of his attitude. “I was just playing hard on defense and trying to get stops and then the ball found me and I was ready to make a play.”

Johnson did record a steal and a block in his first-half stint, but that defensive mindset wasn't shared by the group.

The Bulls made 14 three-pointers in the first half and Zach LaVine and Coby White hit a couple of bombs off the dribble. The rest came from drive-and-kick offenses that obliterated Brooklyn's front line of defense.

When Brooklyn's shooting faltered in the second half – shooting under 31% from deep – the door opened for the Bulls to claw their way back from a 17-point deficit. It's no longer a truly Herculean task, but Chicago needed Nikola Vučević to briefly reclaim his title as Nets' killer and make his first ten shots, both inside and out…

Outside of Vooch, however, both offenses were ice cold in the second half. The 3-point shooting disappeared and simply due to sluggishness we were locked in a tight situation in the fourth quarter.

“I think our guys understood that we can't let a good team like them give up a lot of threes, and they have really good shooters who keep making open shots,” said Jordi Fernández, pointing out the big change half time. “From then on you could see the urgency was there and flying around. When games are canceled you can still fly around… They did a great job so it was nice to see.”

Then Simmons led a 10-0 run for the Nets, erasing a 98-94 deficit early in the fourth period before Brooklyn closed it out. No, not Dennis Schröder that evening, but his backcourt partner Cam Thomas. The 23-year-old finished the game with 32 points on 11 of 23 and saved his most impressive shots to slam the door on the visitors.

With the lead at 110-109, he made a pick-and-roll to get to the rim and then hit a pull-up three-pointer to extend the lead to six. In both cases, Thomas benefited from Nic Claxton's great screens while also looking for the areas of the pitch that Fernández highlighted. Beautiful. And the head coach couldn't have been more thrilled.

“What (Thomas) has done for this group is the identity that we want to have as a unit: working really hard and getting better just to help the team. Obviously he'll help himself at some point and that's what I want for these guys. But right now he’s doing what’s best for the team.”

After the game, Thomas turned the praise back to his head coach, calling it “amazing” to have a head coach who believes in him. “The first day he got the job he contacted me and said he believed in me and stuff, and after getting to know each other I feel like that has grown even more now. Especially with live game replays. He said he trusted me the whole game.”

A far cry from Jacque Vaughn and Steve Nash.

And then, because he's Cam Thomas, he fired a shot – THE shot? – as we stand firmly on the logo to take the Bulls into the night…

As Ian Eagle said, “Oh no!!! OH YES!!!”

“I just have to sit back and take the best seat in the house and just watch him do what he does,” Fernández said. “He made a crazy shot from almost half the pitch. And I can't coach that. That’s him.”

Indeed it was, and after six games in which the Brooklyn Nets were split down the middle, Friday's victory was the one they needed. They played hard and it was great fun to watch them receive contributions from top to bottom of the squad. They were undeniably the better team than the Chicago Bulls.

Worried about the tank? Or enjoy the ride?

Final score: Brooklyn Nets 120, Chicago Bulls 112

Nic Claxton and Ben Simmons talk about low expectations

Did the Nets players use the low expectations for their season – 19.5 wins was the consensus – to motivate them? Nic Claxton leaves no doubt about it, as he said before the Bulls game.

“Yeah, I mean, ESPN had the fewest wins with us. I think we can surprise teams,” Claxton said Friday. “It's still early in the season so we just have to be consistent. It's an extremely long season with ups and downs. We just remain confident and continue to apply everything the coaches have told us. I think we are on the right track.”

Ben Simmons agreed, but noted the season still has a long way to go.

“It has to stay that way,” he said after the game. “Whatever was said before the season, we’ll leave it at that.”

Milestone clock

• Another virtuoso scoring performance from Thomas in the fourth quarter means he is still the NBA's leader in PPG in the final frame with just under 12 per night.
• Ben Simmons' 8/8/11 line marked season highs in rebounds and assists, as did his two blocks.
• Ziaire Williams scored ten points, meaning he scored in double figures in three straight games, something he only managed once all last season.

Kid Super Collab

Brooklyn's fashion empire has expanded as much as it does now support financially their collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist KidSuper, the latest clothing line under the team's own brand bǝrō.

I think most of the articles look pretty cool, but I included them in this roundup to post another classic Ian Eagle moment…

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Photo by Chris Schwegler/NBAE via Getty Images

Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons, who lost to the Knicks by 30 points on Friday night, come to town after an off day.

The Sunday afternoon meeting point is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 3:30 pm ET.