Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez has made it clear multiple times this season that he will be experimenting with his rotation to see what gives him the best outcome on a game-by-game basis. Brooklyn had virtually every chance to win Saturday's matchup against the Atlanta Hawks and in pursuit of that victory, Fernandez made an interesting decision to close with rookie guard Mikel Brown Jr. over Nolan Traore.

"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," Fernandez said of the decision after Saturday's 124-121 loss to the Hawks. Despite Traore dropping 19 points, two assists, and four steals through the first three quarters of the game, Fernandez decided to finish the game with Brown instead.

"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 was the right thing to do," Fernandez continued. "Was it right? I don't know. Obviously, Nolan did very well, and they both scored 18 [points for Brown] and 19 [points for Traore]. So, that's very good contribution by your two point guards."

It was understandable for Fernandez to stick with Brown throughout the fourth quarter despite Traore's performance given how well the rookie played in the final 12 minutes. In just the fourth quarter, Brown scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from behind the three-point line, but he was also a -10 plus/minus at the same time.

Through 23 minutes, Traore was a +9 plus/minus, but it also seems that Fernandez sees Traore and Brown as point guards that are better with subbing for each other than sharing the floor together. While Fernandez left the door to have potentially made the wrong decision by not getting Traore back in the game, he made it clear that he was trusting his rookie that was playing well in the fourth quarter.