Jordi Fernandez sends a ‘loser’ message to Brooklyn after 37-point loss to Clippers

For the second time in three games, c Brooklyn Nets ran away from the field in a shameful way. The Nets fell 126-89 to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday at the Intuit Dome.

Losing is one thing. Shameful ways are others. With Brooklyn mired in the season, Jordi Fernandez is struggling to keep his team from accepting outcomes like Sunday’s.

“We won in the third quarter and we were competitive in the (last) six minutes of the second. And outside of that, the other 30 minutes, we played like a losing team,” Fernandez said. “You can lose and you can be a loser. So for 18 minutes we lost and we were competitive. And for 30 we were losers. So we have to decide what we want to be and who we want to be.”

Los Angeles won the first quarter 38-14 and never looked back. Brooklyn had no answers on defense for Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, who combined for 35 points on 10-of-18 shooting in the first half.

The Nets dropped 37 points to the Clippers to open a five-game road trip

Offensively, Fernandez’s team looked lost against a Clippers defense that sold out to make stops Michael Porter Jr. The Nets shot 29 of 85 (34.1 percent) from the field and 9 of 43 (20.9 percent) from three. Brooklyn’s four active rookies — Egor Demin, Drake Powell, Danny Wolf and Ben Saraf — combined to shoot 10 of 35 from the field.

Meanwhile, Porter had one of his quietest games of the season while constantly facing double teams. Brooklyn’s lead option scored nine points on 3-of-11 shooting in just 21 minutes.

“They were just the better team tonight. It wasn’t much. They just dominated us last game and dominated us tonight,” Porter said. “We have to get back to competing every night. So I think from the players to the guys on the bench to the coaches, we all have to get back to competing. I definitely could have done a better job. Our starting unit could have done a better job. It was just a poor effort.”

The Nets were the subject of many jokes after the 54-point loss at the hands of the New York Knicks on Wednesday. They turned in a brisk effort during the course a double whammy against the Boston Celtics on Friday. However, Sunday’s loss was another significant step back in the team’s quest for meaningful, competitive basketball.

After going 7-3 in December, the Nets have lost 14 of their last 16 games. They posted the NBA’s worst net rating (-14.0) during that span.

“It’s part of life and part of learning and part of finding the next Nets,” Fernandez said of his team’s recent struggles. “We know and believe we have the right vision here to do what we want to do and be successful as an organization with great ownership and management. Obviously we’re going to need the right figures on the floor to compete to a certain standard. One of the (last) three (games) competitively is not good enough. We should be three for three, whether you win or lose on the second leg. We’ll learn from it, we’ll hold each other accountable.”

After Sunday’s loss, the Nets sits fifth in the draw table. However, they have the same number of wins as the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings, who sit in third and fourth place.