Fernández gets harsh after loss to champs

Rookie coach cites Nets for showing 'quit' vs. Celtics

November 14, 2024 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Nets first-year coach Jordi Fernández and his players proved no match for the defending NBA champion Celtics at Barclays Center Wednesday. AP Photo by Heather Khalifa

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Jordi Fernández had been eloquent, insightful, encouraging and resilient in both defending and, at times, criticizing his team through his first 11 games as the Brooklyn Nets’ rookie coach.

Following a blowout loss to the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics at Downtown’s Barclays Center Wednesday night, Fernández fumed a bit.

“It was not going our way, but you can never ever ever quit, or look defeated,” the 41-year-old native of Badalona, Spain insisted following a humbling 139-114 defeat to the Celtics in front of 18.112 fans on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

“This is not who we want to be,” added Fernández.

Who the Nets (5-7) were through the first three weeks of the campaign, a tenacious, never-say-die, willful unit that refused to accept “rebuilding” as a moniker, wasn’t in evidence against a Celtics squad it had taken to overtime before bowing last Friday night in Boston.

This one was over much earlier as the champs opened a 115-95 cushion on Jrue Holliday’s basket with 7:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Playing Boston after it suffered a gut-wrenching one-point loss at home to Atlanta on Tuesday, the Nets appeared to be the team coming off a back-to-back despite Monday’s rousing victory in New Orleans.

In losing for the third time in four games, Brooklyn got outrebounded 45-34, including 12-3 on the offensive glass, surrendered 18 points off turnovers, was outscored 52-40 in the paint and lost the second-chance points battle by 10.

When asked if his team suffered from fatigue following a road trip that saw it play three games in four nights, Fernández failed to acknowledge even the slightest hint of an alibi.

“It’s all excuses,” he noted. “It is what it is. It’s the NBA. … We have to be better than this, plain and simple.”

Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Jayson Tatum led the Boston assault with 36 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.

Reigning NBA MVP Jayson Tatum and the Celtics had their way with the Nets Wednesday in Downtown Brooklyn. AP Photo by Heather Khalifa

Jaylen Brown, who missed the team’s first meeting with a hip flexor, added 24 points and nine assists for the Celtics (10-3), who have won each of their last seven visits to our borough.

Payton Pritchard, the hero for Boston in last Friday’s OT win, added 23 points off the bench and drained five of the Celtics’ 22 3-pointers.

Fernández refused to give more than obligatory nod to the champs, instead focusing on what his team needed to do to pick itself up off the mat with Friday’s NBA Cup opener looming against the New York Knicks.

“If we’re going to sustain success, this is not who we want to be,” he said. “I give (the Celtics) credit for winning a championship and being a good team. We need to worry about ourselves.”

The Nets did shoot better than 50% and knocked down 44% of their 3-pointers.

But Boston knifed through a porous defense to best those impressive numbers, drilling 54% from the floor, including 48% from beyond the arc.

“Our guys played hard to start,” Fernández ceded as Brooklyn led by as many as 13 in the opening quarter and held a three-point lead with 3:21 remaining in the first half.

Tatum answered with one of his five 3-pointers and the Celtics were off and running, taking a 65-60 advantage into the intermission before pulling away for good in the third quarter.

Making his second straight start in place of injured forward Dorian Finney-Smith, Ziaire Williams scored a season-high 23 points for the Nets, drawing the closest thing to praise Fernández was willing to dole out during his first show of frustration during a post-game presser.

“He was very efficient for us. Ziaire was great. He understood exactly what he needed to do,” Fernández said.

“They weren’t backing down, and kind of just punched us in the mouth,” added Williams.

Cam Thomas put up 17 points and Dennis Schroder had 16 for Brooklyn, which will doubtlessly get a day to reflect on what Fernández felt was its worst effort of the season and his young head-coaching career.

“We’ll grow because we care as a group,” he said. “Then you come back and fight a different way. If our fight is better and we lose, I’ll take it.”

The Nets hope to take their coach’s ire out on the Knicks in the opener of a two-game set at Madison Square Garden this weekend.

Tip-off Friday is set for 7:30 p.m.

Ziaire Williams put up a season-high 23 points Wednesday, but he and his Nets teammates got blown out by the Boston Celtics. AP Photo by Heather Khalifa

NOTHING BUT NET: Finney-Smith’s ankle injury shouldn’t keep him out for long as Fernández indicated that he wanted the power forward to be at “200%” before he returns to the hardwood. … Ben Simmons, coming off a season-high 12-assist effort in New Orleans Monday, missed the rematch with the Celtics due to left-calf tightness. … Fernández’s Wednesday wasn’t all bad. He received the Venus de Badalona, citing him as a favorite son of his hometown, “To get this award just means the world to me. Just to represent my city, and not just for me, but also my parents,” he revealed. “They still live in Badalona, my friends and being the basketball town that it is , it’s pretty cool.”