The Nets' surprise against the Bucks gives Jordi Fernandez his “special” first win

NEW YORK (AP) — Jordi Fernandez kept the ball in his first NBA win as a head coach, which he said will be a reminder of where he came from and where he hopes his career will take him.

“I'm going to put it in my office,” Fernandez said, “because my wife decorates the house great and she doesn't want my basketball stuff there.”

The rookie head coach earned victory in his third game on Sunday as the Brooklyn Nets defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 115-102. Fernandez, a native of Badalona, ​​Spain, said his wife and children were at the game, along with his parents, friends and extended family.

The celebration was the culmination of a 15-year journey that began when Fernandez left Spain at the age of 26. He had started coaching as a teenager and, upon arriving in the United States, worked his way up from head coach of the Canton Charge in the NBA G. He became an assistant with playoff teams in Denver and Sacramento before getting his first chance to be coach last spring to lead your own NBA team.

“So it's really special to have started from the bottom in the NBA, worked really hard and moved up and moved up, and some good moments, some difficult moments, different teams, friends, memories,” Fernandez said. “And it’s really cool to look now and enjoy this moment because there’s only one time you get to be a head coach and win a (first) game.”

“On the other hand, I also think: What is the next step? And we have to move on to the next step and I want to be in this league, I want to stay at this club for a long time.”

Fernandez deflected the honor to his players, who treated him to a post-game celebration that Fernandez said was fun and wet.

“I mean, a guy from Europe, from Spain, being a head coach in the NBA, that's a great thing,” said Nets guard Dennis Schroder, who is German.

Fernandez coached the Canadian Olympic team this summer after leading the Canadians to their first men's basketball medal, a bronze at the World Championships, in 2023. He was an assistant to the Nigerian Olympic team at the previous Olympics.

Now he has his own club in Brooklyn and, after Sunday, a new basketball.

“It represents a moment in my life,” Fernandez said, “and when you look at it, it’s the start of something special.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.