The Nets have desperately needed a spark, from anyone, as their season spirals away from them.
Lonnie Walker IV delivered one and — with so many struggling around him — is making a case to see more minutes.
In his third game back from a hamstring injury, Walker scored 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range, in 25 minutes off the bench during the Nets’ 111-102 loss to the Cavaliers on Thursday in Paris.
The Nets were woeful in the first half, trailing by 20 at the break, before Walker saw more minutes in the second half and helped lead a furious comeback.
The Nets got as close as seven points in the fourth quarter.
“I was ready,” Walker said after practice Sunday. “The only difference was the bump-up in minutes and finally being able to play and catch the rhythm. It felt good. I’ve been playing with confidence. My teammates have been giving me the confidence, teammates and coaches have been allowing me to play, knowing I got some game.
“It felt good, especially a game like that, when you’re starting to get your tail whooped and you kind of fight back, fight back, fight back and it kind of gets to the grit and the grind, a couple of techs, you live for games like those. It felt good to be in the midst of a battle. We lost that fight, but there’s plenty more to go.”
Walker, who signed a one-year deal with the Nets in free agency, had emerged as an early-season standout, averaging 14.6 points per game on 49 percent shooting and 46 percent from behind the arc in 17 games before missing 15 games with the injury.
The Nets, after starting 13-10, have lost seven of their last eight games and 12 in 15 to fall to 16-22, clinging to the 10th seed in the East.
Perhaps Walker can help the Nets replicate more of what they looked like earlier in the year.
Head coach Jacque Vaughn admitted he has “some decisions to make with rotations and lineups and minutes” with Walker back, along with Day’Ron Sharpe’s absence.
Wing Cam Johnson, who finished with a season-low three points on 1-for-7 shooting, was notably benched the entire fourth quarter of Thursday’s loss in favor of Walker.
“That’s huge for us, for [Walker’s] confidence, for him to get back in the groove where he left off before he was injured,” Vaughn said. “He was playing high-level basketball from all three levels. We got a chance to see that, his attack at the rim, his ability to defend multiple positions that we need, then his ability to make shots for us. The most minutes he had played since being back, so we’ll continue to monitor that.”
Walker’s energy and defensive effort brought new life to what have overwhelmingly been dreary Nets performances, and his scoring has badly been missed.
“That’s what he does,” Johnson said. “He’s a scorer, athletic, can make things happen on the court. We knew it was coming. For him to go out there and have a game sparked us, brought us back. It’s a great momentum for him and for us.”
The Nets outscored the Cavaliers by 11 in the second half, when Walker scored 13 of his 20 points.
The turnaround was also led by Cam Thomas off the bench, whose 26 points matched Mikael Bridges for a team high.
How do the Nets now replicate what they did in that second half for a full game?
“That just goes to show when we picked up our level of physicality, when we picked it up defensively, it transitioned to the offense and we got it going,” Walker said. “Bumping, laying people up, shooting, feeling confident, talking smack, we were all engaged and I think the energy was very contagious.
“To see us have that grit and that grind that second half, it shows that we have the capability of doing it. So now that we know we can do it, we can hold each other accountable.”
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