Jordi Fernandez couldn’t complain about the Nets’ fight Friday night.
In fact, he loved it. Consider his message received.
Two nights after the Nets’ new coach tore into his players for their effort in an ugly loss to the reigning champion Celtics, they responded with a gritty performance.
Playing without starting center Nic Claxton, who will be out for at least a week with a lower back strain, the Nets came all the way back from a 21-point, third-quarter deficit in their first of four meetings with the rival Knicks at the Garden.
Ultimately, the comeback fell short because Knicks star Jalen Brunson hit a game-winning 3-pointer with six seconds to go and former Net Mikal Bridges blocked Dennis Schroder’s driving layup at the horn.
But it didn’t impact how Fernandez felt about his team after this heartbreaking 124-122 setback to the Knicks in an NBA Cup game.
“Losing hurts and it hurts all of us. But right there we showed our identity and nobody can take that away from us — nobody,” Fernandez said after the Nets lost for the fourth time in five games. “The fight that we just put together, that’s something that we have to appreciate. Now losing the game, you go into the locker room, and nobody is happy for losing a game, and I’m the first one. I want to win every game and we’re going to fight to win.
“But at the same time, if you see how we’re working every day and what we’re trying to build and how, today I’m proud of my guys. The other day I wasn’t all the way through.”
There were a lot of positives in the way the Nets (5-8) rallied after it looked like they would get blown out a second straight time.
The Nets outscored the Knicks, 40-24, in the final quarter and were even on the glass in the second half after getting hurt on the backboards in the first two stanzas.
Dorian Finney-Smith returned from an ankle injury and had 15 points.
Cam Thomas poured in 43 points and hit seven 3-pointers, his second 40-point performance at MSG and ninth of his career, after making his first eight shots from the field.
Thomas played down the significance of his penchant for lighting it up in this building, though there was one fan on celebrity row, seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, who caught his attention.
“Today was kind of dope though, seeing Tom Brady,” Thomas said. “I was a big Tom Brady fan growing up. He gave me a little look when I hit a 3, too. That really was a good moment for me, for sure.
It was 98-77 in the final minute of the third quarter when the Nets flipped a switch.
They reeled off 21 of the game’s next 27 points to get within six.
The Knicks responded by pushing the lead back into double figures, but the Nets kept coming.
They went ahead on Schroder’s 3-pointer with 12 seconds to go, setting the stage for the frantic final two possessions.
“I thought we did a great job of not giving up, still sticking to the game plan and the [tide] was turning,” Thomas said. “We were up one with a few seconds left and [Brunson] hit a tough shot you got to live with over our best defender. I think we did all the right things, we played the right way.
“I think we scored like 40 points in the fourth. That’s crazy. We just got to look at what we did in the fourth and try to carry that over to Sunday as much as we can.”