Nets Coach Jordi Fernández Defends Nic Claxton Following Ugly Loss to Pistons

After losing 10 straight games, it looked like the Brooklyn Nets were starting to turn the corner with two straight wins, albeit very late into the season.

To snap that 10-game skid, the Nets topped the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons right in front of their fans.

Brooklyn then followed up that win with another over the Memphis Grizzlies, who literally suited up the minimum amount of players required to be available on any given night.

However, the Nets failed to build off their newfound momentum, getting blown out 138-100 by the Pistons three nights after pulling off the upset victory over them. Detroit scored 64 points in the paint, shot 50% from 3-point range, and got 26 second-chance points and 26 fast-break points.

It didn't take long for the Pistons to set the tone, jumping out to a lead as large as 16 in the first quarter.

The Nets managed to score just 13 points in the second quarter while allowing the Pistons to tack on another 35. Detroit scored no less than 32 points in each quarter and led by as many as 43 points.

Michael Porter Jr. had 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting. The efficiency was there, so to speak, but he drilled just one of his six attempts from 3-point range and was clearly bottled up by Detroit's suffocating defense.

Potential MVP Cade Cunningham put on a show, finishing with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 15 assists. Jalen Duren added 26 points on 9-of-10 shooting.

Put simply, the Nets had trouble stopping Cunningham on drives to the rim and failed to meet him with the proper resistance on pullup 3s and 2s. Duren's brute strength and athleticism was also too much for the Nets' interior defense to contain.

Nic Claxton struggled against Detroit's tough interior defense, going without a made field goal. Despite the poor performance, Nets coach Jordi Fernández is confident about what the longest tenured Net brings to the table.

"I don't need to see much from [Nic]," Fernández said. "We know who he is, how good of a defender he is. He's been efficient. His playmaking has been great this year as free throws have been better. So I'm very happy with Nic's performance, and like I said before, it's gonna be time to give looks to some other guys, and his health is very important. So he didn't score in 20, almost 21 minutes, not extremely worried about it."