The Nets’ 105-90 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night at Barclays Center featured a bit of controversy.
Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards shot a 3-pointer from the right corner with 3:54 left in the first half, and after the make, accidentally backpedaled onto the foot of Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez and twisted his ankle.
Cam Johnson, who missed Thursday’s game because of a lower back contusion, appeared to recognize the severity of Edwards’ injury right away. Timberwolves trainers helped the three-time All-Star off the court and into the locker room.
Fernandez, who typically sits a few seats down from the top of the Nets’ bench between assistants, was standing on the sideline and walking toward the baseline when the accident occurred.
While the first-year head coach didn’t appear to have any ill intent, some fans quickly took to social media to question why Fernandez was standing so far down the bench to begin with, and why he was so close to Edwards during his shooting motion.
Fortunately, it appears Edwards avoided the worst. Despite being helped off the court, he started the second half and finished with a game-high 28 points on 10-for-15 shooting, with five rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes.
The Timberwolves are familiar with in-game collisions between player and coach. During the 2024 playoffs, Minnesota head coach Chris Finch suffered a nasty knee injury after a sideline collision with guard Mike Conley and needed surgery to correct the issue.
As far as Thursday’s game itself, the Nets saw their two-game win streak snapped and fell to 25-52 this season. Fernandez prioritized youth in the loss, as Dariq Whitehead, Reece Beekman, Tosan Evbuomwan, Drew Timme and Tyson Etienne were all featured in the team’s rotation and played significant minutes. D’Angelo Russell played just 13 minutes in the loss.
Whitehead, Beekman, Evbuomwan, Timme and Etienne closed the first quarter on a 10-1 run to cut Brooklyn’s deficit to one point entering the second quarter. The wild thing is, that group spent most of this season in the G League. But Minnesota extended its lead to 49-37 by halftime and did just enough offensively in the second half to keep the game out of reach.
Nic Claxton finished with a team-high 10 points on 9-for-10 shooting, with six rebounds and five assists in 24 minutes. Maxwell Lewis added 10 points, five rebounds and two assists in his first career start.
Brooklyn will return to action on Sunday against the Toronto Raptors at Barclays Center.
