Tuesday\u2019s 125-124 loss<\/a> Fern\u00e1ndez didn\u2019t want Brown to forget, even as the sixth overall pick shouldered responsibility for two costly mistakes.<\/p>\nBrown finished with 17 points, five rebounds and a team-high five assists, a performance that contained enough highs and lows to make the final stat line almost misleading. For three quarters, he could barely get anything going. By the end of regulation, he was making the biggest shots of the night.<\/p>\n
And by the final buzzer, Brown had gone from nearly being Brooklyn\u2019s hero to blaming himself for its fourth consecutive defeat.<\/p>\n
Brown had scored just one point through three quarters, missing all five of his field-goal attempts. Egor D\u00ebmin\u2019s right-leg contusion and Nolan Traor\u00e9\u2019s cramps had thinned Brooklyn\u2019s backcourt, leaving Fern\u00e1ndez to lean more heavily on a rookie whose playing time was still being carefully managed.<\/p>\n
The misses didn\u2019t shake the coach\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still want him to be aggressive and play his game,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n
Brown found ways to contribute before finding his shot.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old assisted Chaney Johnson on a 3-pointer, found Moritz Wagner for a layup and set up Porter for a transition 3. Even with his jumper failing him, Brown was creating opportunities for teammates, keeping Brooklyn\u2019s offense moving while searching for his own breakthrough.<\/p>\n
Then, with 6:42 remaining, the ball finally went through.<\/p>\n
Brown buried a 26-foot trey to complete a 9-0 run, putting the Nets ahead 99-97. Another triple followed, restoring a 102-99 advantage. The rookie who had spent three quarters searching for a basket was suddenly playing with the confidence Fern\u00e1ndez had been asking him to maintain.<\/p>\n
And when the game got close, Brown kept answering. His driving layup tied the score at 111 with 44.9 seconds left, though another rookie mistake followed when Derrick White slipped behind him for a dunk and three-point play.<\/p>\n
Boston eventually built a four-point advantage in the closing seconds. A series of missed free throws courtesy of Mitchell Robinson, however, left Brooklyn with one final opportunity.<\/p>\n
The Nets trailed 117-114 with 2.7 seconds left. Keon Ellis inbounded the ball to Brown in the left corner, where the rookie caught it and buried a 3 with 0.2 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n
Overtime.<\/p>\n
Brown had scored 13 fourth-quarter points on 4-for-6 shooting, adding three assists. He scored or assisted on 21 of Brooklyn\u2019s 35 points in the period, complementing Porter\u2019s 12-point effort as the Nets refused to go away.<\/p>\n
For a player who\u2019d barely made an offensive dent through three quarters, it was a remarkable turnaround.<\/p>\n
The most audacious shot came in overtime.<\/p>\n
With 2:01 remaining, Brown pulled up from 32 feet and connected, stretching Brooklyn\u2019s lead to 124-119. The sixth overall pick had just delivered another enormous basket, this one seemingly putting the Nets in position to escape Boston with a victory.<\/p>\n
The young guard wouldn\u2019t make another shot.<\/p>\n
Brown missed his final five attempts, including three 3-pointers as the Celtics chipped away at Brooklyn\u2019s lead. His first late layup attempt also missed, but a successful challenge by Fern\u00e1ndez overturned a foul call and restored possession to the Nets with 6.1 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Porter had his arms around Brown.<\/p>\n
The Nets had survived another scare. There was still time to finish what the rookie had helped start.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was discussed to just try to get it in, and try to kill time,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
Instead, Brown attacked the basket after receiving the inbound pass. He explained afterward that the ball was slipping as Paul George approached from his right, and he feared going out of bounds if he didn\u2019t attempt the shot.<\/p>\n
The layup rolled off the rim. George secured the rebound with 2.3 seconds left. Boston had one final chance.<\/p>\n
And there was another mistake.<\/p>\n
Fern\u00e1ndez wanted Noah Clowney to remain matched up with Jayson Tatum, preserving a bigger defender against Boston\u2019s primary scoring threat. Brown switched instead, leaving Tatum with a smaller defender and enough room to rise for an elbow jumper.<\/p>\n
The shot fell as the buzzer sounded. Tatum finished with 40 points. Brooklyn fell to 0-4.<\/p>\n
\u201cI blame me,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
Fern\u00e1ndez knew the mistakes needed correcting. Running out the clock would have forced Boston to foul, and the defensive assignment on Tatum had been made clear. But Fern\u00e1ndez also understood the responsibility that came with putting Brown in those situations. He acknowledged considering a defensive substitution before Boston\u2019s final possession, ultimately deciding against inserting someone who had spent the game on the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s on me if that\u2019s what I\u2019m completely comfortable with,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cAlso, he has to go through those other games and it\u2019s important for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown\u2019s workload reflected that growing trust. He played 27 minutes and 44 seconds, including all five minutes of overtime, as the Nets continued to gradually build up his conditioning.<\/p>\n
Fern\u00e1ndez explained that the two days between games allowed Brooklyn to assess the rookie\u2019s physical response and feel comfortable extending him. His progression remained deliberate, with no immediate plans to move him into the starting lineup. But Fern\u00e1ndez also emphasized that Brown wasn\u2019t receiving minutes simply because he was a highly drafted rookie. He earned them.<\/p>\n
Tuesday demonstrated both what Brown could do with that responsibility and how much he still had to learn. The mistakes were costly. He knew it. Fern\u00e1ndez knew it. Nothing could change the outcome or give Brooklyn back a victory that had been within reach.<\/p>\n
But Fern\u00e1ndez had also watched Brown overcome a miserable shooting start, create for his teammates and deliver repeatedly with the game hanging in the balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cMistakes happen,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI\u2019ve made mistakes all my life and some of them just stay with you a little long and they hurt, but you gotta move on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown wasn\u2019t happy with himself, Fern\u00e1ndez acknowledged. The coach wasn\u2019t asking him to ignore the ending, only to remember the rest of the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got it going and he showed that when the big lights are bright and they\u2019re on, he can perform,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n
The Nets didn\u2019t get their first win. Brown didn\u2019t get the finish he\u2019d earned a chance to deliver. But the rookie gave fans a glimpse of what greater responsibility might produce, even if his most important lessons came after the shots stopped falling.<\/p>\n
Afterward, Brown addressed Brooklyn directly in a post on X. There were no excuses, just accountability and a promise.<\/p>\n
\u201cTHAT ONE IS ON ME BROOKLYN! IMMA SHAKE BACK I PROMISE YALL DAT\ud83d\udcaf\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Porter Jr. had his arms around Mikel Brown Jr. as the officials reviewed a call in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,11943,4570,10165,106113,4475,9,24,63,23280],"class_list":["post-385505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-celtics","tag-jordi-fernandez","tag-loss","tag-mikel-brown","tag-nets","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-overtime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385505","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=385505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}