Nets' coach Jordi Fernandez questions effort during team's blowout loss to Celtics
The Nets bench looks on late in the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics at Barclays Center on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Nets found out Wednesday what they missed last Friday against the Celtics — two All-Stars are harder to stop than one.
They also missed the effort they showed that night losing in overtime. With Jaylen Brown healthy after missing the first game, he and Jayson Tatum took turns thrashing the Nets, who lost 139-114 at Barclays Center.
The duo combined for 60 points and the Celtics, who missed 39 threes against the Nets (5-7) five nights prior, were 22-for-46 beyond the arc. The season-high 47.8% on threes reversed the season-worst 26.4% they shot last Friday.
It also prompted Nets coach Jordi Fernandez to call out his team after being outscored 74-54 in the second half. The Nets shot 51.3% from the field and made 19 threes but it wasn’t good enough coupled with the bad body language he saw after halftime.
“I’m OK with losing but I’m not OK with at one point of the game, not fighting,” Fernandez said. “We played a pretty good half against a very good team and we come out of the half and we kept fighting. it was not going our way. But you can never, ever, quit or look defeated, whatever the case may be.”
The Nets, who've lost three of their last four games, trailed 72-68 in the third quarter before giving up a 13-2 run. Tatum scored 15 points in the period and finished with 36 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds after scoring 33 in the first meeting.
Brown had 24 points and 12 rebounds. Payton Pritchard added 23 points off the bench, including going 5-for-9 on threes, as the Celtics led by as many as 30 points.
But the Nets were more out-hustled than anything else. They were outscored 18-8 on second-chance points and in the second half, the Celtics (10-3) outscored them 14-0 in points off turnovers after halftime.
“We just let them stomp them on our necks. [They] definitely had more fight,” said Ziaire Williams, who had a season-high 23 points.
“You never want to lose games,” added Nic Claxton who took an eight-second pause before beginning his thoughts. “But that's not the way that you lose. We didn't fight all the way through.”
The Nets were without Ben Simmons (left calf tightness) and Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain). Simmons felt the injury after shootaround and was ruled out.
Without that size, the Nets were out rebounded 44-33 after winning that category 51-39 in Boston last Friday.
The Nets entered the game eighth in opponent three-point percentage, but the Celtics wrecked their defense.
Tatum, who finished 5-for-6 on threes, scored 11 points in the final 2:15 of the first quarter to trim a Nets’ 13-point lead to two. Brown had 13 points in the second, helping to turn a Nets’ 45-39 lead into a 55-55 tie.
Cam Thomas had 17 points and Dennis Schroder had 16 for the Nets. Despite five players scoring in double figures, it showed how nearly perfect they had to be last week to push the Celtics to overtime.
“Last game, they got a lot of open looks, they just missed and today they just made those shots,” Claxton said.
The schedule gets no easier this weekend with two games against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Friday is also the Nets’ first NBA Cup game.
But the Nets finally hit their roughest patch of the early season. Fernandez made sure to let them know losing was fine but losing without effort was unacceptable.
“We have to continue to do things the right way and if one night, the other team is better than you, then you got to respect it,” Fernandez said. “But this — flashes of not doing the right things — this is not what we want to be at all, and we haven't. We haven't done it.
Fernandez honored by hometown
Earlier this week, Fernandez was honored by his hometown of Badalona, Spain, with the Venus of Badalona award, designating him a “favorite son.”
Fernandez is only the fifth person to receive the honor. Badalona mayor Xavier Garcia Albiol flew to New York this week to present him with a replica of the Venus of Badalona statue and a necklace featuring the city crest.
“To get this award just means the world to me,” Fernandez said before the game. “Just to represent my city. Not just for me, but also my parents.”
Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
