Nets rally to give Jordi Fernandez tight win over ex-team Kings, mentor

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When Jordi Fernandez went back to Sacramento to face the Kings on Sunday night, Mike Brown joked he wanted to kick his protégé’s ass and then give him a hug. But it was Fernandez that got to give the victorious postgame embrace.

Fernandez got his first win over his former boss, after his Nets had gutted out a come-from-behind 108-103 victory in front of 16,750 at Golden1Center.

“First of all, I wanted to get the victory for our players. And then with all my respect to [Brown], because he is more than my mentor,” Fernandez said. “Obviously, you want to beat everybody, and they were in front of us. So, with that said, we did our best to win. It means the world to me, because he’s the person that brought me here. So, circle of life that we got back together.

“And I would not be where I am today without him. So, special moment for me.”

It was a tough one, and a nail-biter. The Nets built a 19-point lead, trailed in the fourth quarter, and then used a 15-4 run to take the lead for good.

Cam Thomas had a game-high 34 points. And after committing seven turnovers while sick Friday in Philadelphia, he had just one Sunday with six assists.

“I felt better, obviously. You feel good, you play good,” Thomas said. “So just felt better, just wanted to come out, be aggressive and try to will the team to a win. [It] was much needed. It’s a much-needed win for us.”

The Nets showed will late.

They gave up 57.4 percent shooting and 9-for-18 from deep going into the fourth, but allowed just 26.1 and 0-for-7 in the final quarter.

“I’m really proud of the guys. We controlled the game at the end. We got enough stops,” Fernandez said. “It probably wasn’t very pretty, but proud of these guys and winning the game with defense in the fourth.”

A win over Brown, whom Fernandez called more like family.

They met in 2009 when Fernandez was an intern at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas, and Brown — then the Cavaliers coach — had his middle school son, Elijah, work out under the Spaniard during Summer League.

It was the start of a mentorship, Fernandez serving multiple stints as Brown’s assistant — the last time from 2022-24 in Sacramento.

“Yeah, he’s a mentor, but he’s more than that. He’s like family to me. I would not be in this position without him,” Fernandez said. “I’m in this position because of coach Brown and the organization. … So, really cool story.”

And Brown was convinced this position — entrusted with the Nets’ rebuild — is the perfect position for Fernandez to succeed.

Everything Fernandez showed Sunday just underscored that.

“He’s just the right guy for the job,” Brown said. “They’re obviously thinking about a rebuild … so you need somebody with a plan, with energy, with the right focus in terms of relationships, because going through that process, if that’s what they’re doing, it can be a lot of ups and downs.

“So you need a guy that’s going to be steady, have good relationships with everybody and keep the spirits up. … He has them playing really, really, really hard. They’re doing some good things on both sides of the ball. I can only imagine the success that he’s going to have, especially given some time.”

Brooklyn played hard Sunday.

Ahead just 29-25 after De’Aaron Fox (31 points) hit a step-back jumper with 1:46 left in the first, Brooklyn mounted a 19-7 run that spanned the quarters for a 54-35 edge.

It was still 82-75 before the Nets gave up a 13-3 run, going down by three with 23.4 seconds left in the third on a Keegan Murray free throw.

Trailing 94-90 with 9:14 to play, Brooklyn blitzed Fox and defended their way to a 15-4 run. It was capped by a Jalen Wilson 3-pointer to go up 105-98, and they held on.

“Trying to disrupt defensively. Do what I can to make things harder on them. They got a lot of good players, and just make it, make it more difficult,” said Noah Clowney, who helped slow Domantas Sabonis to 13 points. “Even the smallest disruption of rhythm, anything you can do try to make it harder on them.”