The Knicks-Nets rivalry took on new meaning Sunday as Jordi Fernández went head-to-head with his longtime mentor, Mike Brown, for the first time since Brown took over as Knicks head coach. Their relationship stretches back more than a decade, but on this night, Fernández was focused on how Brown has reshaped the Knicks’ style of play.
The Nets entered Sunday still searching for their second win of the season, playing without leading scorer Cam Thomas, while the Knicks aimed for their fourth straight victory at Madison Square Garden.
“I think in the last five games they’re the No. 2 offense, overall 4th, so from that end of the floor early in the season, they’ve been pretty efficient,” Fernández said of the Brown-led Knicks. “They’re a team that plays at both ends very physical, they rank high defensively, too, still trying to figure out things but there’s not too much I can say just from watching them on film. Obviously, a lot of talent, a lot of size, and they’re buying into shooting the ball which we all know that’s efficient, a lot of guys who shoot 3s. We have to be ready for that.”
Brown, a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, was hired to replace Tom Thibodeau in June after Thibodeau led the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 2000. He and Fernández share a long-standing bond that dates back to Fernández’s early days as a young coach.
Fernández has called Brown his “American basketball father” and says their connection extends well beyond basketball.
“I wouldn’t be here without Mike Brown,” Fernández said. “That’s all I can say. A lot of love as a person, coach, mentor and today is a special game but at the same time it’s just a game where we’ll try to go out there play really hard and try to beat them, and I’m pretty sure they’ll try to do the same thing.”
Fernández trained Brown’s son, Elijah, while working as a player development intern at IMPACT Basketball in Las Vegas. At the time, Brown was the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he later hired Fernández as a player development coach, launching his NBA career.
After six seasons as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets, Fernández reunited with Brown as associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings from 2022 to 2024. The two also worked together with the Nigerian national team.
Fernández had faced Brown only once as an NBA head coach entering Sunday, a 108-103 Nets win in Sacramento on Nov. 24 of last season. By the time the Kings visited Brooklyn on Jan. 27, Brown had already been dismissed after a 13-18 start. Now, with both leading teams in New York, they’ll see each other on opposite sidelines at least four times a year.
“It’s great. I’m just happy for him and his family; he’s got a lovely family,” Brown said. “Great young coach. He’s got a young team obviously, so they’ve got to figure some things out. Any time I get a chance to see him, I always love to see him. But I want to kick his ass.”
