Jacque Vaughn reflects on Brooklyn Nets’ shift in mentality - “We stacked the deck at mentally challenging them”

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn gave props to his team for their performance against the Washington Wizards on Saturday night. After a tumultuous series of events over the last few days, the Nets rallied together to notch an important win.

The Nets have been a franchise shrouded in controversy this season. Since the offseason, in fact.

After trade rumors pertaining to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving practically ruled the airwaves, Brooklyn somehow managed to contain the situation heading into the season. However, with Irving in mind, issues pertaining to his controversial promotion of an anti-Semitic film also added to the team's struggles.

While things appeared to have leveled out, the Nets hit a stride. With Vaughn on board, Brooklyn looked like the team to beat. However, this too came to a grinding halt when Durant was sidelined with an injury.

To finally top everything off, Kyrie Irving shocked the NBA world by requesting a trade ahead of the trade deadline. Overall, the Brooklyn Nets are in quite a predicament.

Needless to say, the whole ordeal itself had an adverse impact on the team's mentality heading into the game. Facing off against the Washington Wizards on Saturday night, Brooklyn only had eight available players.

However, the Nets rallied together to notch a tremendous win at home.

Jacque Vaughn had nothing but praise for his team after their performance. When asked to share his thoughts on the game, Vaughn said:

"We stacked the deck, I think, at mentally challenging them tonight. We didn't get off to the start that we wanted to. But we responded. We talked about it at halftime that it was more than the physical piece of this game that we were missing, it was the mental piece of this game. Definitely a shift in our mentality. And we got rewarded for it."

Vaughn further elaborated on the mentality of the roster when he added:

"It's proof, it's evidence of who we want to be as a team. We talked about what day of the week, what state we're in, how many guys are available. It just doesn't matter. You have the ability and the choice to lock in and play. And the group that we had tonight did that."

Highlighting the importance of showing up and doing the work, Vaughn displayed immense pride in the Nets' resilience against the Wizards.

Vaughn also gave Nets youngster Cam Thomas props for his performance. With an incandescent scoring night to lead Brooklyn past Washington, Thomas showed up when the team needed him most.

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Cam Thomas shines brightest for the Brooklyn Nets

The Brooklyn Nets were truly undermanned on Saturday night. With Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons recuperating from injury, Kyrie Irving was also listed out with right calf soreness.

With all three stars out of the rotation, the Brooklyn Nets were reduced to playing with eight players on their roster after Seth Curry and Markieff Morris left the game with injuries. However, these eight showed tremendous resolve throughout the second half.

Cam Thomas was a bright spark for the Nets in this game. Notching 44 points, five rebounds and five assists, Thomas lit up the Wizards' defense in the fourth-quarter.

Paired with an impressive 29 points by Edmond Sumner, the Brooklyn Nets successfully completed a comeback against the Wizards.