The best ambassador of Badalona and Joventut: Jordi Fernández and his Nets celebrate their first victory

After falling and getting up several times to try again at this start of the NBA marathon, the Brooklyn Nets Jordi Fernandez finally emerged victorious after a discouraging 0-5 start, forging their first win of the season last night on the court of the Indiana Pacers (90-98). And Jordi seemed to feel happy relief but, above all, pride, the satisfaction of seeing how his boys faced adversity face to face.

“I liked the energy of everyone on the team. The shots were not going in and sometimes anxiety affects you, but the team stayed together,” highlighted the Badalona coach, in his third year as NBA head coach of the New York team.

“I prefer a victory like this, in which you give everything during the entire game because it simply makes you better. Everyone contributed and it is a victory that we needed,” acknowledged the 43-year-old Catalan.

With Michael Porter Jr. (23 points) and Julius Randle (20) as leaders, Jordi Fernández saw how the forceful message to his pupils led to what was a radical change that closed the circle: just a week ago, the Nets fell 109-136 against the same Pacers and Jordi Fernández then described his team’s performance after the first quarter as “unacceptable.” The one of Badalona, direct, he does not bite his tongue and that frankness is in part what has allowed him to connect with so many players on his steep path to the position of first NBA coach.

And the truth is that this time we saw very different Nets against Pacers without Tyrese Haliburton but no more diminished than Brooklyn, without the former Real Madrid player Egor Demin nor rookie Mikel Brown Jr.

The New York team has to take a step forward this year after the arrival of Julius Randle, another veteran like Moritz Wagner -14 points from the bench-, and the greatest experience in general of the young people. The reality is that by game these Nets had shown at various times in the first five losses that they are prepared to at least ascend to the middle class of the East judging by their performances against ring candidates.

And Brooklyn only lost 125-121 against the Cavaliers and a shot at the buzzer Jayson Tatum deprived Jordi Fernández’s team of a prestigious victory in Boston (125-124).

In contrast to those pharaonic Nets trio formed by Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Hardenthis Nets is a very long-term project with a lot of emphasis on player development, a philosophy that Jordi Fernández who started playing for Joventut knows so well. Brooklyn has a salary mass of 160 million, the lowest in the entire NBA.

The one from Badalona signed a multi-year renewal with Brooklyn in April as proof of the blind trust that the New York franchise has in Jordi Fernández. The Catalan has insisted a lot on the strength of the team in the culture that he has built and continues to build in the Nets.

“Before, when we had adversity, we talked less and everyone was more separate. Right now, even when they had sets, we continued to play hard and our boys united,” said Jordi, who has had to go through a lot of adversity and sacrifice since that time. 2009 in which Mike Brown gave him his first opportunity in the NBA in the Cavaliers’ development department.

Things from the fascinating script that is the NBA, his mentor and closest friend Brown is in charge of the Nets’ eternal rival, the current champions New York Knicks. And this next morning, New York derby in style in the Madison Square Garden.