Nets Coach Jordi Fernández Discusses Blown Fourth Quarter Lead to Hawks

The Brooklyn Nets looked well on their way to storming out of the ATL with a much-needed victory after taking an 11-point lead with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Brooklyn's bench was finding a good rhythm from behind the arc and Terance Mann was helping the Nets come away with timely stops.

However, Nets coach Jordi Fernández decided to bring his starters back into the mix to help Brooklyn close out the win, but the Atlanta Hawks outscored the Nets 24-2 to close out the game.

Atlanta's defense blew up many of Brooklyn's actions and forced the Nets into many difficult shots and turnovers, leading to many easy points for the Hawks in transition.

Brooklyn's defense also had trouble closing out on Atlanta's snipers from behind the arc and gave the Hawks way too many open driving lanes to help them soar to victory.

"An 18-0 run, unacceptable," Fernández said. "To go into a game that we played well, we played it well. A very good brand of basketball, connected, defending, [and] taking the lead as a team. Obviously, that second group was rolling and doing a great job. Where the game was going and because there was not enough separation, I wanted to bring the starters back because I felt like otherwise I'm just leaving the bench too long.

"I've seen it before where they run out of gas and then if you're a starter and you've been sitting on the bench and you're back with three minutes to go, probably I made a mistake, I don't know. But I expect a lot more from the whole starting group to not go into an 18-0 run, especially with the type of players we have and how good they are. So it's got to be better."

Nets rookies Egor Dëmin and Nolan Traoré looked good for stretches, but like many rookies past and present, the game sped up too quickly for them down the stretch of this tight affair.

Traoré used his turbo speed to his advantage several times throughout the contest, but he wasn't able to finish some of his layup opportunities despite getting clean looks at the rim. Dëmin also appeared to rush his shot on several of his attempts from downtown.

Ideally the Nets would've scored more than two points in the game's final eight minutes, but exposure to these moments will only help these rookies grow.