After starting this season 0-5, the Brooklyn Nets won their first game of the season on Sunday, Nov. 1 in Indiana, defeating the Pacers 98-90. They were competitive against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden the following night on Monday, but the Knicks took control in the fourth quarter and defeated them 103-90. It was the Nets’ nearly unbelievable 15th-straight loss to the Knicks.
The Nets haven’t beaten their crosstown rivals since Jan. 28, 2023, a 122-115 victory that seems like ages ago. Kyrie Irving was the Nets’ leading scorer that night with 32 points.
Sunday’s win over the Pacers was a game where the Nets collectively played with necessary intensity and execution.
“I really liked the energy of everybody on the team, on the bench, the guys on the floor,” Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez said after the game. “We took good shots, and they were not falling, right? And a lot of times, the anxiety hits, but the team stayed together and won the first quarter, stayed together and won the second quarter, stayed together and won the third quarter…
“…I’d rather take a win like this that you have to grind all the way because that just makes you better.”
Despite falling to the Knicks, Fernandez was again satisfied with the team’s effort.
“We played great for 39 minutes, and then the last nine were not good enough,” he said. “I’m asking these guys to play as hard as they can, and the last two games they’ve done it. There is a lot to learn from being organized and dealing with the lead.
“Obviously that is my responsibility to help them to be better. There are a lot of positives in this game to just throw everything out the window and not think that we did good things. This is not just a new group, it’s a young group, and we want to see the steps.”
Mikel Brown Jr., the No. 6 overall pick from Louisville in June’s NBA Draft, is not yet playing in back-to-back games as the Nets’ medical and coaching staffs manage the 20-year-old’s ongoing left ankle and back issues.
Though he did not play in Sunday’s win, Brown suited up against the Knicks, logging 27 minutes and scoring 13 points on 5-13 FGs, and just 1-8 from behind the arc. Despite his misfires, Fernandez and Brown’s teammates see a young man with great potential.
“I think Mikel’s a rockstar,” Fernandez said after the loss to the Knicks. “He’s going to keep taking steps, and right now we always want him to be aggressive. But he has the responsibility to run the team, and that’s a big deal.
“I think that he’s a very good scoring point guard. He’s got a great personality, and then all [of them] together have to keep working to organize the team and create those good shots and then defensively continue to get better.”
The Nets’ second-year guard, starter Egor Dëmin, suffered a right leg bone bruise in a 125-124 overtime road loss to the Boston Celtics last Tuesday and his return is uncertain as of AmNews press time.
The Nets were 1-6 going into last night’s game versus the Charlotte Hornets at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and will face the Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks on the road in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday.
