Coming off a tough four-point loss to the surprisingly consistent and dangerous Detroit Pistons at the Palace in Auburn Hills on Friday, Dec. 13th, the more erratic Philadelphia 76ers, seemed just the right answer for the Nets to get back on track and continue to build on the momentum of Deron Williams' return to the starting lineup.

Having lost their previous game in a rout 139-105 to the most-improved Portland Trailblazers, the Sixers appeared listless and the Nets took advantage right from the jump ball, getting out to a quick 7-0 start and Deron Williams with great distribution to all starters, racking up 5 assists in the first 12 minutes to give the Nets a ten point (32-22) lead after one. Joe Johnson was leading all scorers with eight points and while you could tell his stroke was looking good and could have a great game, no one saw the third quarter coming.

While Philly was able to maintain its 10-point deficit (58-48) going into the half, mainly through points off turnovers and staying within striking distance, the third quarter would see the Nets blow the game wide open behind Joe Johnson's blazing hot hand.

After not scoring since the first quarter, an under-the-weather Johnson shot an unbelievable 13 for 20 (65%) overall and a mesmerizing 10 of 14 or 71% from beyond the arc totaling 29 points in the third quarter alone and 37 points for the game. By the end of 48 minutes of play, the Nets were up by 27, 100-73.

Not lost in the shooting exhibition, all Brooklyn Nets starters were in double figures with the team shooting 57 Percent. Andray Blatche, who continued to play outstandingly well, came up big with another 20-point game. He was asked, what do you do when Joe's having a big night like tonight.

"Keep feeding Joe, gotta keep feeding him the ball cause it gave us energy, gave the bench energy, it gave the crowd energy and it's probably the most exciting thing we've seen this season," Blatche responded.

You couldn't get Joe to come out for the 4th.

"Nah, he's a little sick and we wanted him for practice tomorrow," Blatche added.
In the locker room, Johnson was asked how he was feeling and what the shooting tonight felt like?

"I feel great and it was important for us to get a win," Johnson said. "It felt great and I was in the right spot a lot of the times at the right time so my teammates were just finding me and you catch the ball with the seams just right and every time it comes out your hand you feel like it's going in."

Deron Williams echoed those sentiments, "you gotta find the hot hand and when he (Johnson) gets cooking like that, you gotta get it to him. He went nuts, he had 29 in the quarter, oh my God! Anytime you get a win, you feel better and hopefully, we can keep it up, we knew this was a big week for us starting tonight against this team and we took care of business like we needed to and we got a tough Wizards team coming in and that's gonna be a totally different game. They went into the Knicks' house and beat them so they're a good team."

Once again, another positive result with Paul Pierce coming off the bench midway through the first quarter.

The Nets take on the Wizards on Wednesday and close out the week against the Sixers on Friday in Philly.