SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nets coach Jordi Fernandez going back to Sacramento to play the Kings and Mike Brown wasn’t just facing a mentor: It was facing family.
Brown didn’t take it easy on his protégé Sunday, and Fernandez wouldn’t have wanted him to. He earned his victory over his former boss, a 108-103 come-from-behind win before 16,750 at Golden1Center.
“I just need to kick his ass. After which give him a hug afterwards. And I’m sure he feels the identical way, the identical way about me,” Brown laughed before the sport.
“That’s great. I take the hug, I don’t take the primary part,” Fernandez said. “We’ll attempt to do the identical thing obviously.”
It was a troublesome one, and a nail-biter. However the Nets built a 19-point lead, trailed within the fourth quarter and used a 15-4 run to take the lead for good.
Cam Thomas had a game-high 34 points and Brooklyn shot 19-for-39 from deep to enhance to 7-10. And Fernandez got his win over his former boss.
Their ties run deep. Fernandez met Brown in 2009, when Fernandez was a young development coach from Spain, working at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas. Brown — then the Cavaliers coach — had his middle school son, Elijah, figuring out under Fernandez during Summer League, and the Spaniard impressed him.
It was the beginning of a mentorship, Fernandez serving multiple stints as Brown’s assistant — the last time from 2022-24 in Sacramento.
“Yeah, he’s a mentor, but he’s greater than that. He’s like family to me. I’d not be on this position without him. He’s the one which brought me here, after which years later we were back together,” Fernandez said. “I’m on this position due to Coach Brown and the organization that put me on this position. So, really cool story.”
And Brown was convinced this position — entrusted with the Nets’ rebuild — is the right position for Fernandez to succeed.
All the pieces Fernandez showed Sunday just underscored that.
“He’s just the fitting guy for the job,” Brown said. “They’re obviously interested by a rebuild, at the least that’s what you hear from the surface. And so you would like any individual with a plan, with energy. After which with the fitting focus by way of relationships and stuff like that. Because going through that process, if that’s what they’re doing, it will probably be quite a lot of ups and downs.”
“So you would like a man that’s going to be regular, have good relationships with everybody and keep the spirits up and all that other stuff. He has them playing really, really, really hard. They’re doing a little good things on either side of the ball. I can only imagine the success that he’s going to have, especially given a while once they work out which direction they might not need to go.”
After committing 19 turnovers Friday in Philadelphia, the Nets had only one in a clean first quarter that saw them lead, 37-28.
Ahead just 29-25 after De’Aaron Fox (31 points) hit a step-back jumper with 1:46 left in the primary, the Nets mounted a 19-7 run that spanned the quarters.
Ben Simmons had a chase-down block, then pushed the pace the opposite solution to find Noah Clowney for a corner 3-pointer and 54-35 cushion with 7:19 within the half.
The Nets had their cushion cut to eight on the break.
It was still 82-75 before the Nets gave up a 13-3 run, taking place by three with 23.4 seconds left within the third on a Keegan Murray free throw.
Murray caused the Nets pain again within the fourth. Clowney was forced out of the sport with a left ankle injury after landing on Murray’s foot.
Clowney needed to be helped off with 18 points on 5-for–8 from deep with 6:05 left.
However it got here in the course of the 15-4 run where the Nets flipped the sport.
Trailing 94-90 with 9:14 to play, Brooklyn buckled down and executed, Shake Milton finding Jalen Wilson for a 3-pointer and 105-98 edge.
“That’s the respect: You usually need to beat your opponent, and I hope that that’s what he desires to do, the identical thing we’ll do, obviously with quite a lot of respect,” Fernandez said. “In some unspecified time in the future, hopefully I may give him a giant hug after the sport. But we’re here to compete, to fight for 48 minutes, each possession, regardless of who’s in.”
It was a victorious hug from Fernandez.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nets coach Jordi Fernandez going back to Sacramento to play the Kings and Mike Brown wasn’t just facing a mentor: It was facing family.
Brown didn’t take it easy on his protégé Sunday, and Fernandez wouldn’t have wanted him to. He earned his victory over his former boss, a 108-103 come-from-behind win before 16,750 at Golden1Center.
“I just need to kick his ass. After which give him a hug afterwards. And I’m sure he feels the identical way, the identical way about me,” Brown laughed before the sport.
“That’s great. I take the hug, I don’t take the primary part,” Fernandez said. “We’ll attempt to do the identical thing obviously.”
It was a troublesome one, and a nail-biter. However the Nets built a 19-point lead, trailed within the fourth quarter and used a 15-4 run to take the lead for good.
Cam Thomas had a game-high 34 points and Brooklyn shot 19-for-39 from deep to enhance to 7-10. And Fernandez got his win over his former boss.
Their ties run deep. Fernandez met Brown in 2009, when Fernandez was a young development coach from Spain, working at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas. Brown — then the Cavaliers coach — had his middle school son, Elijah, figuring out under Fernandez during Summer League, and the Spaniard impressed him.
It was the beginning of a mentorship, Fernandez serving multiple stints as Brown’s assistant — the last time from 2022-24 in Sacramento.
“Yeah, he’s a mentor, but he’s greater than that. He’s like family to me. I’d not be on this position without him. He’s the one which brought me here, after which years later we were back together,” Fernandez said. “I’m on this position due to Coach Brown and the organization that put me on this position. So, really cool story.”
And Brown was convinced this position — entrusted with the Nets’ rebuild — is the right position for Fernandez to succeed.
All the pieces Fernandez showed Sunday just underscored that.
“He’s just the fitting guy for the job,” Brown said. “They’re obviously interested by a rebuild, at the least that’s what you hear from the surface. And so you would like any individual with a plan, with energy. After which with the fitting focus by way of relationships and stuff like that. Because going through that process, if that’s what they’re doing, it will probably be quite a lot of ups and downs.”
“So you would like a man that’s going to be regular, have good relationships with everybody and keep the spirits up and all that other stuff. He has them playing really, really, really hard. They’re doing a little good things on either side of the ball. I can only imagine the success that he’s going to have, especially given a while once they work out which direction they might not need to go.”
After committing 19 turnovers Friday in Philadelphia, the Nets had only one in a clean first quarter that saw them lead, 37-28.
Ahead just 29-25 after De’Aaron Fox (31 points) hit a step-back jumper with 1:46 left in the primary, the Nets mounted a 19-7 run that spanned the quarters.
Ben Simmons had a chase-down block, then pushed the pace the opposite solution to find Noah Clowney for a corner 3-pointer and 54-35 cushion with 7:19 within the half.
The Nets had their cushion cut to eight on the break.
It was still 82-75 before the Nets gave up a 13-3 run, taking place by three with 23.4 seconds left within the third on a Keegan Murray free throw.
Murray caused the Nets pain again within the fourth. Clowney was forced out of the sport with a left ankle injury after landing on Murray’s foot.
Clowney needed to be helped off with 18 points on 5-for–8 from deep with 6:05 left.
However it got here in the course of the 15-4 run where the Nets flipped the sport.
Trailing 94-90 with 9:14 to play, Brooklyn buckled down and executed, Shake Milton finding Jalen Wilson for a 3-pointer and 105-98 edge.
“That’s the respect: You usually need to beat your opponent, and I hope that that’s what he desires to do, the identical thing we’ll do, obviously with quite a lot of respect,” Fernandez said. “In some unspecified time in the future, hopefully I may give him a giant hug after the sport. But we’re here to compete, to fight for 48 minutes, each possession, regardless of who’s in.”
It was a victorious hug from Fernandez.
