Nets run out of steam down stretch, lose to Cavaliers and former coach Kenny Atkinson

CLEVELAND — The Nets’ second night of a back-to-back was a reunion of sorts for both head coaches.

Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson faced the Nets for the first time as an opposing head coach since his four-year tenure in Brooklyn ended in March 2020. Nets coach Jordi Fernandez returned to the city where his NBA career started in 2009 as a player development coach.

Only one reunion ended happily, and it wasn’t Fernandez’s. The Cavaliers ended the game on a 16-4 run and moved to 11-0 with a 105-100 victory at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

The Nets went ahead by 13 in the first minute of the fourth quarter on Dennis Schroder’s three-pointer and took a seven-point lead with 4:24 remaining on Cam Johnson’s three-pointer, but the Cavaliers scored the next 10 points.

The Nets (4-6) held the NBA’s top offense to its lowest scoring total of the season but made only one field goal during the Cavaliers’ finishing run and were outscored 35-18 in the fourth quarter.

“[Cleveland] out-executed us in the fourth quarter, and that’s what it came down to,” said Johnson, who had 23 points. “Other than that, we played a good enough game and we competed hard enough, but we just gotta clean that up.”

The Cavaliers were 13-for-13 in the paint in the fourth quarter and Darius Garland scored 10 of his 20 points in the period. Evan Mobley had 23 points and 16 rebounds and Donovan Mitchell added 22 points, including 15 in the first quarter, for Cleveland.

“Those high-level players like that, ballhandlers and scorers, they can take turns,” Fernandez said. “If one of them is hot . . . we were assigned and supposed to do certain things, and we’re not great with it.”

Fernandez blamed himself for his substitution patterns leading to fatigue on defense. With Ben Simmons out because he’s not cleared to play both games of a back-to-back, Schroder played 37:25. He and Nic Claxton played the entire fourth quarter.

“I didn’t give [Dennis] a break. That’s how your execution goes down,” Fernandez said. “That’s how your defense goes down. I didn’t give Cam Thomas breaks, and then at the end, we paid for it.”

The Nets also gave up 26 points off turnovers a day after giving up 20 in an overtime loss to the Celtics.

Trailing 52-37, the Nets responded with a 33-5 run in a span of 9:41, outscoring the Cavaliers 18-5 to end the third quarter and opening the fourth quarter with 15 unanswered points.

Johnson scored 23 points and Thomas and Schroder added 22 points each for the Nets as all five starters scored in double figures.

Atkinson praised his former team after watching the Nets push his current one.

“They played a great game. We weren’t great, but it’s also a sign of a really good team,” Atkinson said. “They can pull something like that out when you’re not playing your best, and credit Jordi, he’s doing a great job. They are obviously exceeding expectations.”

Before the game, Atkkinson said there’s no hard feelings about his departure. He said he learned to be more patient as a coach while an assistant with the Clippers and Golden State.

He also didn’t wonder what could’ve been if he had coached a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in 2019-20.

“I do know how it played out was almost like the perfect scenario in terms of my development,” Atkinson said. “And would I have gotten there otherwise? That’s kind of an unknown. I’d love to play that out in an alternate life.”

The present isn’t bad for Atkinson, who is leading the NBA’s last unbeaten team.

“I think I do a better job of managing the locker room, managing players, don’t get so stressed out about the little things like I used to,” he said. “I’m sure that comes with age too, right? It’s not just my different coaching experiences.

“Wonderful experience I had,” Atkinson said. “But there’s always something, a little something extra, right, when you’ve been with a team before.”

Now it’s Fernandez’s turn to lead a Nets rebuild. The last two games have taught his team lessons about finishing games better.

“We’ve got to do it for 48 [minutes],” Schroder said. “We did it today for probably like 43, 44 minutes and then we just kind of slowed down. I know crunch time you want to like calm down a little bit, but we’ve still got to have people in the right place and then execute it.”

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.