Rookies Egor Dëmin and Drake Powell got chastised and challenged by head coach Jordi Fernández on Friday.
They responded for acting coach Steve Hetzel on Sunday.
With Fernández out sick with the flu, Dëmin and Powell turned in impressive bounce-back performances in a 127-82 rout of Milwaukee of which Fernández surely would’ve been proud. Because Hetzel certainly was.
Brooklyn Nets guard Egor Demin (8) goes to the basket past Milwaukee Bucks center Myles Turner (3) during the first half on Dec. 14, 2025, in New York. AP
“Very very proud of [Dëmin]. He challenged Egor, he challenged Drake, and they both responded beautifully, with an edge,” Hetzel said. “It’s another step in their progression. They took a big step in having a bad game and then responding. And that’s what the NBA’s all about. You play 82 of them. You got to be quick to forget about the last one, move on and play better, which they both did.”
Powell played just 2:14 Friday after Fernández deemed him not ready mentally, but he rebounded to score 13 points and finish a game-high plus-31.
Meanwhile, Dëmin saw his minutes curtailed Friday in Dallas after ill-advised plays trying to make up for earlier mistakes. But against the Bucks, he had a team-high 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting, including three strong drives to the rim.
He was even feisty on defense with two steals and a block.
Nets’ Drake Powell drives to the basket during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on December 14, 2025 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NBAE via Getty Images
“All of it is a process,” Dëmin said. “Obviously, I want to do better in every game, but sometimes, there’s days like that, and I’ve just got to really watch film, understand what I did wrong and what I could do better, talk to the coaches and talk to players and learn from it and go to the next one. Because obviously, it’s a lot of games, and I haven’t even done one season yet. So I’m really trying to learn how to get over games like that into the next ones.”
Bouncing back from rough outings — and dealing with losses — is new for the Russian teen, who experienced little defeat at Real Madrid.
“I didn’t have [many] lost games in my life, honestly. Coming from Moscow to Spain, there was a couple of big ones, but in general, I’ve been in a really winning team, and it’s always been kind of hurting when we’re losing some big games or whatever,” Dëmin said.
“In Spain in three years, I lost probably three games.“So it’s obviously been always hurting a lot. In college, I had to really start learning how to get over those bad games. Even sometimes when we win but I’m not good with my performance or whatever. Or when you lost, and again it’s so many games, so I’ve just got to [learn]. In college is when I started learning about it. Coach [Kevin Young] is from the NBA. He’s like, ‘You got to go to the next one.’ You can’t really just stay with whatever happened yesterday.”