Losers of 15 of their last 16 on the road and a season-high nine straight overall, the Brooklyn Nets are getting harder to defend.
Not on the hardwood, but during second-year coach Jordi Fernández’s postgame press conferences.
“I know our guys are way better than this,” Fernández insisted moments after Tuesday night’s 124-98 defeat to the Miami Heat in front of 19,700 fans at the Kaseya Center.
“So that’s, to me, the exciting part is, you know, believe you’re better, and just fight the fight. Just go ahead and do it.”
The Nets (15-46) haven’t done “it” since upending Chicago at Downtown’s Barclays Center on Feb. 9.
The fifth-longest losing streak of the Brooklyn era looks even uglier if you stretch it back to the start of the new year.
The youngest team in the NBA has gone 5-26 in 2026, with the lone road triumph during that stretch coming on Jan. 30 in Utah.
The Heat (33-29) are still holding on to eighth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
They remained just one game out of the coveted sixth spot, bypassing a potential play-in tournament appearance, after making fairly quick work of Brooklyn.
Though they did lead briefly by a single point in the opening half, the Nets soon disintegrated before the fourth-best defense in the league.
Brooklyn committed 19 turnovers, got beat on the fast break 23-13 and shot a dismal 19% (6-of-32) from 3-point range.
The slumping Nets can only watch as Bam Adebayo soars to the basket for two of his 23 points Tuesday night in Miami. Photo: Lynne Sladky/AP
Michael Porter Jr., the Nets’ leading scorer, had difficulty getting in his comfort zone as Miami’s Andrew Wiggins clamped down on the 6-foot-10 forward.
Porter went 3-of-17 from the floor while pacing Brooklyn’s clang-fest from long distance, going 0-for-9 on 3-balls.
Without their veteran leader to turn to, the Nets had to get production out of their second unit, which played considerably better than the first.
Porter was limited to a season low-tying nine points, but reserve forward Ziaire Williams put up 16, back-up center Day’Ron Sharpe finished with 10 and eight boards and rookie Danny Wolf contributed 11 points off the pine.
“I want Mike and the first group to play as hard as they can,” Fernández noted. “I want to challenge them to do it because I’ve seenthem doing it. on the defensive end.
“If that happens, I can live with whatever happens. … Then you’re being selfless, you’re playing for the team, you know, just good things happen. I’m trying to just challenge every guy in different ways.”
Bam Adebayo poured in a game-high 23 points to go with nine rebounds and six steals for Miami, which is doubtlessly licking its chops as it awaits Thursday night’s finale of this two-game series.
Noah Clowney scored 17 points and rookie Nolan Traoré added 14 out of Brooklyn’s starting five, but the duo combined for 12 giveaways and no assists through the first three quarters as the Heat opened up a 91-76 lead entering the fourth and never looked back.
“Yeah, they need to grow, they need to grow and watch it and learn from it, and I know they’re better. There’s no excuse that they’re young,” added Fernández.
Starting center Nic Claxton returned from a thumb injury, but didn’t last long.
The high-flying pivotman had four points on 2-of-7 shooting to go with five boards, three assists and two blocked shots in 28 minutes after sitting out Sunday’s home loss to Cleveland.
First-year guard Ben Saraf added to Brooklyn’s miscues with six turnovers in 25 minutes off the bench. He also had six points and four assists.
Now, Fernández and his staff have less than 48 hours to tune up for the rematch, which will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
“(We have to) learn, watch film, get some work done (Wednesday), and then come back and be better,” he said wistfully.
Liberty star Breanna Stewart voiced her frustration over the ongoing CBA negotiations between the WNBA and Players’ Association with a letter on Tuesday. Photo: Angelina Katsanis/AP
NOTHING BUT NET: After taking on the Heat again, the Nets will visit Eastern Conference-leading Detroit (45-15) on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. … In other local pro hoops news, the WNBA and Players’ Association still haven’t come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, further jeopardizing the May 8 season opener. The league laid down a March 10 deadline for the campaign to start on time and Liberty forward Breanna Stewart and fellow PA vice president Kelsey Plum responded with a letter to union executive director Terri Jackson. “We are frustrated that we have not made more progress as we near the March 10 deadline,” the three-page letter noted. “And we believe this is a result of a breakdown in communication between you and the Executive Committee and players more broadly.” The Liberty, who were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Phoenix last year after capturing their first-ever WNBA title in 2024, are still waiting to sign free agents, including Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones.