{"id":191573,"date":"2026-04-10T00:30:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T00:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191573\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T00:30:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T00:30:37","slug":"jordi-fernandez-hopes-nets-represent-the-borough-as-season-closes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191573\/","title":{"rendered":"Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez hopes Nets \u201crepresent the borough as season closes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barclays Center got one last regular-season home game Thursday, and the timing was awkward for the fans. The Nets<\/a> and Indiana Pacers<\/a> both sat star power again while the lottery picture stays front and center, leaving the building to host something closer to a late-season tryout than a showcase.<\/p>\n

Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez didn\u2019t pretend that\u2019s what people sign up for when they buy tickets. But when he was asked what he\u2019s appreciated about the fan base during a season in which Brooklyn entered the night 12-28 at home, he went straight to the one thing that hasn\u2019t wavered.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean the loyalty and the support has been amazing, especially going into a season that we didn\u2019t win a lot of games,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cBut all our guys worked and played hard, got better, and to feel the support for what we\u2019re trying to do and the plan we have is pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the tightrope this team has walked for months. The record hasn\u2019t been good enough, and the home record shows it. But Fern\u00e1ndez keeps pointing back to effort, to growth, to the idea that the group has kept showing up for the work even when the standings stopped being kind. He said the fans have shown up, too, and that it\u2019s felt.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I appreciate them showing up, and the way we play is because we feel that support,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cWe are going to keep getting 1% better and we\u2019re going to find that success that everybody wants and sustain it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a second-year coach, the relationship with the borough has been part of the assignment. Fern\u00e1ndez said he wants fans to feel like they\u2019ve watched a team that reflects Brooklyn\u2019s personality, even if the product has been uneven and the roster has been young.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think that it\u2019s a group that is going to represent the borough and go out there and fight and get better,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cNot always going to be perfect, but I think that we give our best and we compete. I think that we\u2019ve shown that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also pushed back on the idea that youth and constant change should soften expectations. The Nets have leaned heavily on young players all season, but Fern\u00e1ndez said the group never used that as a shield.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenges of the new group and the youth, it\u2019s never been an excuse,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cBut they\u2019ve shown how much they care, and I think that feeling of support has been very important for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

So even with a final home game that won\u2019t feature the full names fans want to see on the floor, Fern\u00e1ndez said the message is simple. Appreciation first. Then a promise that the work won\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, obviously, to appreciate what they do for us. It means a lot, from the support that we get in our events that are not in the arena, like Practice in the Park and all the other community events,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI think this is the reason why we do this, is to impact in a positive way the community, but also to show them and promise them that we\u2019re going to keep working, getting better and competing so when they watch us play, they\u2019re proud of what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barclays Center got one last regular-season home game Thursday, and the timing was awkward for the fans. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,617,21,4475,9,24,63,18755,76664],"class_list":{"0":"post-191573","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-lottery","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nets","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-pacers","18":"tag-tankathon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}