Nets Coach Jordi Fernandez Wants to See a Team That Doesn't Stop Fighting

The Brooklyn Nets have gotten cold after a hot 7-4 stretch in December, losing six of their last seven games.

The Nets blew a 98-90 lead with three minutes left in the game in their 103-98 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday and had trouble kicking it into that extra gear against the Dallas Mavericks after falling well behind early in their 113-105 loss on Monday.

"I don't think that the end was close or that close," Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez said. "We kept fighting, which that's the team that I want to see, a team that doesn't stop fighting. What we learned from this game is the turnovers in transition and then the fast-break points. Some of those turnovers created fast-break points.

"When we've been good getting back in transition, we've been a very good defense for a stretch, a big stretch of games. Right now, we're not doing a very good job, and I have to do a better job helping them and get back to those principles, because I believe our group can do it because I've seen it."

The Nets had the best defensive rating (105.4) in the month of December. Before that, they looked lackadaisical on that side of the ball, ranking second to last in defensive rating before the calendar flipped to the final month of the year.

However, their Brooklyn's defense has seemingly regressed as of late, ranking as the fifth worst defense in the league 13 days into the new year.

The Nets have also struggled to get going offensively, but Fernandez wants to see his team take better shots.

"We gotta keep shooting and sometimes you're not gonna make them, and the reality is, I usually give the guys 14 turnovers are mine and the rest, we gotta be better," Fernandez said. "So most likely we should have shot three more at least, and then this way, we have an opportunity to offensive rebound, which we won the battle right there by three. Now, maybe those threes don't go in, but we can rebound.

"So the shots aren't necessarily going in or not. I don't really care. Gotta take good shots. Gotta shoot them with conviction. We got to create them with conviction, and then when you're in position, go and attack the glass because we have guys like Day'Day (Day'Ron Sharpe) and Mike (Michael Porter Jr.) and Nic (Claxton), Noah (Clowney), they can go fight for seconds, and that's a mentality we need to have."