Jordi Fernández sat Nolan Traoré for the fourth quarter as the Nets blew a 17-point lead to the Hawks: ‘Was it right? I don’t know’

The Brooklyn Nets led the Atlanta Hawks for almost all of Saturday night and still lost. Brooklyn went up 31-14 in the first quarter and led 114-110 with 2:13 left, but the Hawks scored the next 10 points and won 124-121 at State Farm Arena. The Nets fell to 2-7. They had not trailed at any point until Nickeil Alexander-Walker made two free throws with 1:26 left.

Afterward, most of the questions were about one decision. Nolan Traoré, the 20-year-old starting point guard, had 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, five steals and a plus-9 in 23 minutes. He did not play in the fourth quarter. Jordi Fernández stayed with rookie Mikel Brown Jr. for all 12 minutes, and Brown scored 13 of his 18 points in the period, including three threes.

“I thought that Mikel had those five straight points and I just let him roll, because you cannot just keep taking them in and out,” Fernández said. “I think that when I was about to sub Nolan in, Mikel made, I think, two or three threes and the mid-range pull-up, so I thought that that was the right thing to do. Was it right? I don’t know. Obviously, Nolan did very well, and they scored 18 and 19, so that’s a very good contribution by your two point guards.”

Jordi Fernández tells @Meghan_Triplett what adjustments the Hawks made against Brooklyn in their comeback win. pic.twitter.com/kDgJnJFLen

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) November 8, 2026

Brown will sit at Dallas

Brown, the 20-year-old rookie, will not play on Sunday at Dallas, the second game of a back-to-back. Fernández said the team has a plan for Brown’s workload, and that it does not include back-to-backs for now.

“It’s a plan that we have with professionals that know exactly about how your body is, how you feel after,” Fernández said. “Right now, he’s not going to play back-to-backs. I’ll obviously let you know when he does. If we play him back-to-back, the risk is going to be that his condition will decrease and there’s going to be more risk. We’re not willing to take that risk.”

Asked whether that played a part in riding Brown on Saturday, Fernández said it did not. “It’s not about one person here. It’s about the team,” he said. “I thought that Mikel was doing well and made shots at that moment. He was in a good rhythm. That’s why I made the decision to let him roll, because I thought that was the right thing to do to win the game.”

Brooklyn will also be without Egor Demin again. Demin started the first four games before a bone bruise in his right leg, and Fernández said he will miss at least one more game “and then we’ll go from there.” That puts more of the ball in Traoré’s hands in Dallas.

Turnovers and the paint

Fernández put most of the blame on the Nets’ mistakes. Brooklyn turned it over 22 times, and Atlanta scored 28 points off those turnovers. The Hawks also scored 70 points in the paint and closed the fourth quarter by outscoring Brooklyn 36-26.

“We were not consistent enough to do the right things, and it’s not about making shots,” Fernández said. “This is a team that will pressure you, and we had 22 turnovers and 28 points, and that’s not acceptable. That’s where you lose the game.” He added: “They kept crashing the glass. We started well defensively, and then that defense just failed because we couldn’t contain the ball. They scored 70 points in our paint. It’s pretty bad.”

He also said the fix starts with him. “We’ve got to figure it out, me first,” he said. “I hope it hurts enough that when we’re in the same situation, we’re better as a group. That’s not going to change who we are. We’re going to come back and work and try to get one percent better.”

A first triple-double for Sharpe

The loss came on a historic night for Day’Ron Sharpe. The center had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists for the first triple-double of his career, and the 13 assists are the most by a center in Nets history. Michael Porter Jr. led Brooklyn with 25 points and nine rebounds, Julius Randle had 19 points and eight assists, and Danny Wolf had 11 points and nine rebounds in his first start of the season.

Day'Ron Sharpe vs. Hawks

· 12 PTS, 13 AST, 10 REB
· First career triple-double
· Most assists in a single game by a Nets center in franchise history pic.twitter.com/2v63bh6MT1

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 8, 2026

For Atlanta, Jalen Johnson scored 30 points in his return from a left ankle sprain that cost him three games, and Alexander-Walker and Aaron Wiggins each had 20. It was the Hawks’ fourth straight win, and they are 7-4. Quin Snyder also won two coach’s challenges in the final 3:06, and he credited video coordinator Jacob Porter for both. “The one thing we know is the players are usually wrong,” Snyder said. “So we have a ton of confidence in Jacob Porter.”

The Nets play at Dallas on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, which is 2:30 a.m. Monday Cairo time, the second game of a four-game road trip. Atlanta hosts the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday.