OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The same day Robert Saleh ended his tenure as a New York coach, Jordi Fernandez started his.
Fernandez made his NBA head coaching debut in the Nets’ 115-106 preseason opening loss to the Clippers before a sellout crowd at Frontwave Arena that included team owner Joe Tsai and wife Clara Wu Tsai.
Every preseason exhibition comes with the public service reminder that results mean little, even less so with the Nets minus starting center Day’Ron Sharpe and four reserves, while the Clippers played sans star Kawhi Leonard.
But there were clear signs of how Fernandez wants to play — and how the Nets will need to play.
Fernandez talks about playing fast, and the Nets had 27 fast break points. They will need that pace, because they shot 11-of-13 in transition but a horrid 26-of-73 — or .356 — when they didn’t get to run.
And Fernandez has harped on competitiveness and getting ‘one percent better every day.’ They didn’t show much defensive fight early in coughing up the first 12 points and falling behind by 18, but did get better as the night went on.
“Bad start. Didn’t really feel comfortable. Didn’t get no stops,” Dennis Schroder said. “We got some good shots: Didn’t make them. But we settled in, had a great second quarter. … Then in the fourth we were struggling, didn’t get enough stops, didn’t get enough deflections. It’s a good first game, and we’ve got to get back to work.”
The next season or two is going to be about getting to work and getting better.
“This is our first game,” Fernandez said. “The beginning was rocky. And then once we got a better feel for it and we got a few reps to run up and down, it was a lot better. I like the togetherness, how we shared the ball. We took the right shots.
“Once we got into the game, I was happy with the way our first and second unit played. The second half, as far as activity, we charted our deflections. We did a really good job in the first half; in the second it was way worse. Our activity died down in that second half. So we’ve got to be better.”
Cam Thomas had 12 points, and Keon Johnson scored 14 off the bench.
But seeing them fall to their former star James Harden — who had all 14 of his points in the first half and sat the second — was sobering, if not galling.
The Nets planned to start Ben Simmons and Schroder as double point guards, but the former was essentially forced into playing center in the absence of both Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe.
Schroder had 10 points and five assists, while Simmons — in his first game since being shut down with a back injury that required another surgery — was quiet in the first quarter before getting on the ball more in the second.
But when he pushed the pace his teammates often lagged behind, another thing Fernandez will look to fix.
“Yeah we definitely got to be shot-ready in the corners. And we’ll get there. It’s the first game. Guys are trying to figure each other out, so we’ll get there,” said Ziaire Williams, who had 10 points.
“The biggest thing is just everybody being committed and trusting the coaching staff and keep trusting it,” Schroder said. “Ben is pretty fast when he’s got the ball, so we got to keep up and getting in the corners so he can find us for open 3s because he draws a lot of attention when he goes to the basket.”
The start was ugly.
The Nets coughed up the first 12 points of the game. Harden’s 3 made it 9-0, and Terance Mann free throw left them in a 12-0 hole just 2:49 into the game.
The Nets didn’t get on the board until Simmons found Dorian Finney-Smith for a thunderous dunk with 8:56 left in the first.
They trailed by as much as 18, at 23-5 on a Norman Powell jumper and 26-8 moments later after a Mann pullup.
Down 40-29 following Amir Coffey’s hook shot, the Nets reeled off a 16-1 run to get back into the game. Cam Johnson capped the run for a 45-42 edge.
But once both teams went deep into their benches, the Nets coughed up a 21-4 run that spanned the third and fourth.