Jordi Fernández makes historic NBA debut: “I’m extremely proud of where I am”

Jordi Fernández made history on Wednesday by becoming the first Spanish-born coach to oversee a game in the NBA. Unfortunately, his Brooklyn Nets couldn’t crown the moment with a win - the team were narrowly beaten 120-116 by the Hawks at State Farm Arena with Cam Thomas leading the Nets’ stats with 36 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Thomas had reduced the lead to two points with the clock ticking down but Trae Young held his nerve from the free-throw line to put the game to bed.

Fernández says Nets must learn their lesson and be smarter

Fernández told reporters afterwards that he is proud of how his team performed and the effort his players put in as the 2024 NBA season finally got up and running. “I loved our physicality. We’ve been talking about Brooklyn grit, right? You saw it out there with 32 personal fouls. The only thing is, we’ve got to be smarter. Our technique has to be better. We have to lead with our chest and show our hands.

“If my Spanish math is correct, they shot 21 more free throws than us, which I give Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, Deandre Hunter a lot of credit. They were physical, they pushed us out of the way and the had the +21, I’m not arguing any of our calls and free throws but we have to be better. Our guys played hard and I just want to see how fair that is”.

CT’s unbelievable figures

The Badalona-born also highlighted the work of Cam Thomas, Brooklyn’s best performer with 36 points (20 of them in an impressive last quarter), 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, including 14 of 27 in field goals and 7 of 13 in three-pointers. He said that it was “interesting” that a player of Thomas’ offensive capacity only had one free throw in the entire evening.

“He was great. Very efficient, shot over 50% from the field and from three... Five rebounds and I thought that his physicality defensively was there too - he worked on both sides of the floor. I really liked Cam Thomas we tried to put the ball in his hands, he had to wrestle with Dyson again. Got to give him credit, scored 36 points, it’s unbelievable”.

Atlanta’s most outstanding players on the night were Trae Young (30 points, 12 assists and 5 rebounds) and Onyeka Okongwu (28 points and 8 rebounds).

The Nets’ are next in action on Friday in Orlando against the Magic, who got their campaign off to a winning start against the Heat (116-97).

Fernández said he is proud with his achievement of being the first Spanish coach in the NBA and hopes his first win won’t be long in coming. “I want to win every game because in the end what you want is to create winning habits. Today we did things well. But what can we correct that is under our control that would have helped us win the game?” he said.

“That’s the only thing I’m worried about. But stepping back and looking at this game, it was very special - very special for my wife, for my kids, for my parents, for everyone who’s been with me on this journey. I’m extremely honored and proud to be where I am and very proud of the players because they played really hard for each other”.