CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After blowing a couple late leads, the Nets finally got in the win column this season.
And they used a wide open, smallball attack to do it, cruising past the Hornets 133-121 before a crowd of 14,491 at Spectrum Center.
Nets coach Jacque Vaughn had pleaded with his players to embrace their identity as a fastbreak team, and they did.
Playing sans starting center Nic Claxton and power forward Cam Johnson, the Nets (1-2) went with a smallball five-out lineup that suited both Ben Simmons and Dorian Finney-Smith.
The Nets used the 6-foot-7, 220-pound Finney-Smith as an undersized stretch five and handed high-scoring young guard Cam Thomas another start.
It was the same lineup that played so well in Friday’s crushing loss in Dallas. This time, the Nets didn’t have to worry about Luka Doncic stealing a victory.
“It’s staring us in the face that we are better at playing in transition and in full-court basketball than in the half court,” said Vaughn, whose Nets had 28 fastbreak points with a 17-2 edge in the first quarter. “And the sooner we realize that as a group, the better off we’re going to be.”
Thomas poured in a game-high 33 points, having cracked 30 in every game this season.
Mikal Bridges added 24.
But Finney-Smith had 19 points and seven rebounds, filling in ably for Claxton and helping a Nets team that was terrible on the boards last season actually outrebound Charlotte, 46-39.
“Man, just as long as I’m on the court, I’m happy. But I just want to win. So whatever they need me to do, I’m gonna do it,” Finney-Smith told The Post. “Next guy up. We’ve got two great players down who were very important to us, but next guy up.
“Yeah, I feel like it’s an advantage that we can exploit, and just try to use everybody’s abilities and also help Ben with spacing. He can get to the rim.”
And he did.
Regularly.
Or at least deep into the paint for kick-outs to create wide-open 3-point looks for his teammates.
Simmons looked confident and aggressive attacking the paint, flirting with a triple double.
He finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
“Yeah, I think if we just space, run the floor, we’re gonna get easy transition buckets,” Simmons said. “I think this is the first time guys have played with somebody like me with my speed and passing ability to find them. So it’s just reads, figuring it out, learning where to be, getting to the right spots.”
Simmons sparked a white-hot start, the Nets racing out of the blocks — racing being the operative word.
From his long touchdown pass to Spencer Dinwiddie on second possession, the Nets punished Charlotte in transition.
The Nets took a quick 9-2 lead, with seven of the points coming on the fast break.
The Nets weren’t even forcing turnovers, but running the Hornets into the ground off misses.
Finney-Smith found Royce O’Neale for a 3-pointer that padded the cushion to 39-18 with 32.5 seconds left in the first quarter.
It was 42-23 after one, the Nets’ second-highest scoring opening quarter since the start of last season.
They largely held Charlotte at arm’s length the rest of the evening.
The lead never got closer than seven the rest of the way.