All-Star candidate<\/a>. And Nets head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez understood the extra meaning behind Sunday\u2019s matchup and didn\u2019t shy away from it.<\/p>\n\u201cIf I [were] in his shoes, I would be very excited to play this game,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cAnd I have no doubt in my mind that he\u2019s going to go out there and perform on both ends. So, it\u2019s an exciting, exciting day for for all of us, especially for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Porter returned after missing the Nets\u2019 previous two games with an illness, but Fern\u00e1ndez made it clear there would be no limitations.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s feeling great,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cHe did a lot of work yesterday to make sure that he was ready to go. He hasn\u2019t felt great the last few days, and he feels much better. So, no retributions or anything because he hasn\u2019t lost conditioning or so forth. So, if he has a little bit of discomfort still, maybe, he\u2019ll just fight through it. It\u2019s who Mike is. He\u2019s had a lot of discomfort and things that he\u2019s had to deal and he always performs. We\u2019re excited to have him back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cam Johnson, the player Brooklyn sent to Denver, has had a difficult season and is currently sidelined with a right knee bone bruise. He did not make the trip to Brooklyn for Sunday\u2019s game. Nikola Joki\u0107 was also ruled out because of a left knee bone bruise, forcing the Nuggets to prepare without the league\u2019s most reliable offensive engine. Still, Fern\u00e1ndez emphasized that the Nets\u2019 focus remained sharp, particularly when it came to Jamal Murray, whose presence alone demands plenty of attention.<\/p>\n
Fern\u00e1ndez knows Murray as well as anyone. Their relationship traces back to Denver and extended onto the international stage with Team Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly I had him there because I really trusted him, because of our previous relationship in Denver,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that I not just have a lot of respect for, but I as a fan enjoy watching him play because his competitive nature is unbelievable. I haven\u2019t seen many players like him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s game also carried personal meaning for Fern\u00e1ndez beyond Porter. It marked a reunion with David Adelman, who took over as Denver\u2019s head coach after Michael Malone was fired last season. Both once served as assistants on Malone\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would not be in the position that I am today without my experience with that coaching staff,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cPersonally, a lot of love for D.A., because I\u2019ve learned so much from him, but also, I spent a lot of time with him and his family. You don\u2019t forget where you come from.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Porter Jr. didn\u2019t need to say it. The afternoon already carried enough weight. Sunday marked his first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7,670,247,3803,248,562,6,671,302],"class_list":{"0":"post-516769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-nets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklynnets","12":"tag-jordi-fernandez","13":"tag-michael-porter-jr","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nets","16":"tag-nuggets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115838831301429141","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}