In a season that so far seems to have perseverance, high effort or “going the extra mile” as its theme, it was only right for the Brooklyn Nets to cap off their first road trip of the year with a comeback win tonight in New Orleans.

While the Pelicans came into this one quite bruised, suffering injuries to CJ McCollum, Zion Williamson and legendary hypothetical Net Dejounte Murray, they still presented the Nets with a daunting task to start the work week. Brooklyn lost three of their last four against New Orleans before tonight – and it all came in great fashion.

But with trademark tenacity, a boatload of threes and a favorable no-call on a late jump ball, the Nets got it done. Ziaire Williams also got his first start as a Net. Noah Clowney had a career night and Cam Thomas was a 6-foot-2 sleeping giant who woke up at just the right time. Here’s what else happened.

Ben from the bank has promise

Ben Simmons entered this season with 332 NBA games under his belt, starting all but a dozen of them. Now counting tonight’s match and its predecessor, he’s blown that number to 14, and the results suggest it should continue to grow.

We last saw Simmons against Boston, when he sat out the back-to-back vs. Cleveland. In Beantown, he finished with eight points, eight assists and six boards while making six shots – his most in a game all season. Jordi Fernández has repeatedly expressed a desire for Ben10 to increase his field goal attempts, so while that is still a modest stat line, it represented a step in the right direction.

More were taken this evening. After entering the game six and a half minutes into the first, Simmons led the Nets on a 21-12 run, giving them a lead entering the second frame. He scored 10 assists in the half, tying a unique half record for himself as Net, and finished with six points, twelve dimes, five rebounds, two steals and three turnovers. He took five shots and finished +8 for the match.

So what’s the difference here between his production off the bench and as a starter? I’ll give you two reasons: one from a new school and one from an old basketball approach.

For you basketball modernists, it’s simple math, and probably an equation you’re already familiar with. Simmons coming off the bench means he plays less with Claxton, increasing the distance around him and making it easier for him to play his brand of ball. Working alongside Clowney instead of Clax opens up more passing lanes for cutters and shooters. There is also more room for Ben to operate the drivetrain and apply pressure to the rim. The latter may be just wishful thinking at this point, but hopefully you get the idea.

From an eye test perspective, Simmons simply appears to have an extra layer of chemistry with a handful of players who are more likely to play with him off the bench rather than as a starter. The most notable tonight was Jalen Wilson, who often plays as Brooklyn’s seventh or eighth man.

I said on Saturday that while Jordi Fernández choosing to bring Simmons off the bench is the right move for the Nets, it’s also a move that makes Day’Ron Sharpe’s role on this team difficult to define. That’s still the case today, but for some reason Brooklyn’s biggest problem for almost two years has been the inability to get significant production from Ben Simmons. The Nets would love to take this away from him now, regardless of the cost.

There’s still no quick break

Since New Orleans had a handful of injuries and therefore had a shorter rotation, it would have worked to Brooklyn’s advantage tonight to test their opponents’ legs. Whether by design or not, they still refused to do so, generating only six transition points.

But while exploiting this weakness for the Pelicans would have been wise for the Nets, it shouldn’t be a huge shock that they didn’t. It’s a small sample size, but so far this year Brooklyn ranks second in the league in transition points per game, behind only the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It’s okay to call this statistic curious given Brooklyn’s emphasis on early-season conditioning, but it shouldn’t be a confusing one if you’ve been listening to Fernández all year.

While the Nets do indeed prioritize hustle, they also play quite conservatively when it comes to forcing live ball turnovers, which remains the easiest way to begin a quick break in the league.

“We are a ball-pressing team, but we are not a gambling team,” Fernández said before the match today. “So I don’t want my players to steal. Often you play against very good attacking teams, like we played. So you do your job with your ball pressure, but you know, one is creating events, creating turnovers because of your ball pressure, and the other is you’re trying to gamble. So we don’t want to do that.”

Gambling, stealing, whatever you want to call it, the Nets held back tonight and forced a modest eleven turnovers. You can’t argue with the process since the Nets came up with the dub, but this will be interesting to watch as the season progresses given the fine line between hustle and danger.

Never leave again with CT

If this game felt a little hollow going into the final frame, it’s probably because it lacked a god-level Cam Thomas moment for so long.

It was still a fairly modest game for the Bayou Bucket in the box score, as Thomas finished with 17 points after shooting 6-10 from the field. However, Thomas came through with ten in the fourth, including his last three, which made it feel like they counted a little more than the rest.

Whether it’s his fault or not, most of the late-game moments involving Thomas over the past year and a half haven’t ended well for him and Brooklyn. Most recently we saw a memorable final performance from him, painted over by a Denver Nuggets W, after Nikola Jokic and company cruised to an overtime win, just minutes after Thomas hit two incredibly difficult shots that gave his team a lead with less than a lead. minute to go.

However, this shot is something Nets fans can thoroughly enjoy. Even if Fernández tried to call a timeout earlier, or even if some of you would have preferred him to miss it in favor of the tank, it was a reminder that with Cam Thomas, there will almost always be some buckets coming, and with it, a chance to win.