Brooklyn Nets HC Jordi Fernández on Wizards Loss: ‘We Didn’t Defend the Whole Game'

The Nets' three-game winning streak ended right before the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

Feb 4, 2025; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez looks on during the first quarter against the Houston Rockets at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The Brooklyn Nets' three-game run of wins ended on Wednesday night at home to the Washington Wizards, and head coach Jordi Fernández pointed at his team’s defense as a major culprit. 

He said: “We didn’t defend the whole game. [...] We gave up 65 points [in] the first half. In the last ten games, we’ve been defensively top ten in the league [...] and when you give up 65, I think we were on pace to give up 140 defensive rating, which is extremely poor. It would be bad.”

The Nets lost to the Wizards, dead last in the Eastern Conference standings, 119-102. The Wizards were led by 19 points from Jordan Poole. Kyshawn George and Corey Kispert also pitched in 17, respectively. French wing Bilal Coulibaly recorded his first career triple-double with 11/10/11.

“You gotta give it to the Wizards,” Fernández said. “They were the better team. Connected, had good energy, played the right way.”

Cam Johnson, who dropped 17 points following a six-game absence tending to a right ankle sprain, pinned Brooklyn’s loss on Washington getting into the paint too much and scoring too many threes. The Wizards went 20-for-43 (46.5%) from deep, compared to the Nets' 13-for-38 (34.2%).

Johnson said: “They just played harder than us today. In the other games, we played harder than our opponents.”

The Nets are now 17-34 for the season. Brooklyn were on the second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday following a Tuesday night win against the Houston Rockets. Fernández, who insisted post-game that this did not excuse the final result against DC.

He said: “We have high standards. The NBA is full of back-to-backs. You go through winning programs, winning teams, what they do and how they compete… Can you lose a game? For sure. Losing a game is not the problem. It’s how you play, it’s how you present yourself. We’ve shown it — how competitive we can be. Playing hard is one [way], and I think our guys consistently do it. Our focus was not there.”

Nets players will now have a day off — the Feb. 6 trade deadline, coincidentally — before hosting the Miami Heat at Barclays Center on Friday. The Heat just traded Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors as part of a multi-team deal that netted Miami the services of Andrew Wiggins.

Johnson’s future seems to be the question hanging around the organization on the Thursday trade deadline. He’s been linked to a multitude of championship-aspiring teams, although a move doesn’t appear very likely. Day’Ron Sharpe and even Nic Claxton are also names to watch, but the Los Angeles Lakers are off the table for either big after trading for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams on Thursday at midnight.

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