Jordi Fernández didn’t attempt to costume it up as a chess transfer.
He wasn’t chasing matchups or looking for the perfect mixture of gamers. The Nets head coach went with a special beginning group to open the second half of Sunday’s 124-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls as a result of he wished a response, and he wasn’t getting one.
“I think I answered yesterday after the game, that it was me trying to find a reaction from the group,” Fernández stated. “That was the message. It’s not like you’re not going to play. It’s just like we need to find a reaction here.”
That response is what the Nets had been chasing as they returned to Barclays Middle for Monday’s matchup with the Phoenix Suns, a fast turnaround that left little time to take a seat with Sunday’s struggles. Brooklyn entered the evening at 12-28, nonetheless looking for consistency in a season that has been outlined as a lot by effort and execution because it has by damage administration and lineup shuffling.
Fernández’s choice to open the second half in Chicago with a special unit wasn’t essentially about punishment. It was about making an attempt to fabricate urgency on the fly and reinforcing what he’s been telling his workforce since coaching camp. The rotation is versatile. Minutes are earned. And if the power isn’t there, he’s going to search around for it, even when which means flipping the script at halftime.
“I’m rewarding the group that I felt played well,” Fernández stated. “Then after watching the film, I felt pretty much the same way. Then, it didn’t work out overall for the game. We didn’t play hard enough, and we got outplayed right there. We tried at times. But, in the NBA, it has to be a complete effort for all 48 minutes.”
That’s the half that issues going ahead. The Nets can reside with missed photographs. They’ll reside with a foul stretch. Fernández has proven he’s prepared to play younger guys by means of tough patches, so long as they keep aggressive and related. What he gained’t tolerate is drifting, particularly on the defensive finish the place possessions get determined by effort, communication and physicality.
The lineup change was basically an in-game reminder that the ground is all the time open for somebody to impression the sport in ways in which don’t present up within the field rating. That’s why Cam Thomas and Nic Claxton stayed concerned, why Nolan Traore bought one other alternative, why Tyrese Martin and Jalen Wilson had been requested to carry one thing totally different to the desk.
Fernández wasn’t looking for an ideal 5. He was looking for a pulse. And despite the fact that Sunday’s platoon swap didn’t change the result, it clarified the place Brooklyn is correct now.
The second-year head coach isn’t asking for mistake-free basketball. He’s asking for a baseline, the type of constant effort and focus that travels. If Sunday was a reminder of how shortly issues can unravel when these requirements slip, Monday was an opportunity for the Nets to point out they’ve heard him.
“Concentration has to be there again for 48 minutes,” Fernández stated. “It was not a game that I was very happy with.”
