The Brooklyn Nets have made it clear that they are trying to have the kind of season that everyone can be proud of during the 2026-27 NBA campaign after winning just 20 games last year. While everyone within Brooklyn's organization is clearly trying to win as many games as possible, they began the preseason on a strong note and head coach Jordi Fernandez was very complimentary of his team.
"Yeah, it was a good feeling obviously. [In the] first game [of the] preseason, we accomplished playing pretty much everybody that was available. Everybody won their minutes. That’s important to play hard for 48 minutes," Fernandez said following Tuesday's 124-90 preseason-opening win over the Charlotte Hornets, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post. The Nets
played the Hornets to a standstill in the first half before separating themselves in the second half.
"We struggled with turnovers in the first half. [We] ended up with three, I don’t count the last one for holding it, three turnovers in the second. So, that’s pretty good," Fernandez continued, per Lewis. 31 assists on 44 made field-goals, that’s great. Defensively, the ball pressure, turned them over 25 times for 31 points. The only thing we struggled with was [defending] the 3-point line. We have to be better at getting out there and finding shooters."
To Fernandez's point, Brooklyn essentially operated on all cylinders as they finished the game shooting 55% from the field and 54% from three-point land. The Nets won the rebounding battle (38-34), had the more efficient offense (31 assists), and stepped up their effort on the defensive end as they held Charlotte to just 40% shooting from the floor despite the Hornets shooting 44% from deep.
The Nets did turn the ball over 14 times, but they did a good job of not compounding their mistakes as they only gave up 14 points to the Hornets on those miscues while scoring 31 points off 25 Hornets turnovers. Brooklyn still has three preseason games to go before the regular season begins, but if the first game is any indication, the Nets could surprise some people this year.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Jordi Fernandez satisfied with team's preseason win at Hornets
