Brooklyn Nets Use Joe Johnson’s Huge Third Quarter to Blow Out Philadelphia 76ers
By Jonah Mars
Joe Johnson
“Joe Johnson is not human!”, Ian Eagle exclaimed at the end of the third quarter. Joe scored 29 points in the third quarter alone to lead the Nets to an easy 130-94 over the Philadelphia 76ers Monday night. Johnson led the Nets with 37 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 10 3’s. Andray Blatche also had 20 off the bench. James Anderson scored 17 for Philadelphia.
The Nets got off to a good start in the first quarter, and led by 10 after one. In the second quarter, the Nets were unable to break away from the Sixers and only led by 10 at halftime, which was a little bit concerning. The third quarter has been a problem for the Nets for 2 years now, but it was not an issue tonight thanks to Joe Johnson. His eight 3’s and 29 points in the quarter led the Nets to outscoring Philadelphia 42-25 in the quarter. The Nets led comfortably after that.
The Nets looked great tonight, but it is important to note how bad Philadelphia is. Their defense may be the worst I have ever seen. They showed little-to-no effort on defense and did not contest any of the Nets’ 3’s. Of course, the Nets were also extremely hot tonight. The Nets broke a franchise record, hitting 21 3’s in the game. They were 21-435 in the game from long range. They also shot 60% from the field and had 35 assists to 20 turnovers.
Player grades and notes:
Kevin Garnett: B
Garnett did some good things tonight. He made a couple of shots and he also finished an alley-oop. He also had 4 assists. Defensively, he was very effective and he did not give up very much around the rim.
Mirza Teletovic: B
Mirza got the first start of his NBA career and played pretty well. He finished with 11 points and two 3’s. He missed some open 3’s that he should have made, but the Nets really didn’t need them. With Philadelphia playing almost no defense, Teletovic could have scored 20 points pretty easily tonight, but he will take 11.
Deron Williams: A
I loved how Deron Williams played tonight. He looked for his shot occasionally, but the best part of his game was his passing tonight. He made a lot of really quick passes along the perimeter to find wide open shooters. This led him to finish with 13 assists, a season high. He also looked very quick tonight and his ankle finally looks healthy. The offense is so much better when he is healthy and the Nets really need him to be able to stay on the floor.
Joe Johnson: A+ (obviously)
Joe had a nice little first half where he hit his shots when he was open and also had some smart passes. Then, the third quarter happened. Johnson tied an NBA record for most 3-pointers in the quarter with 8, capping it off with a 4-point play. He finished the quarter with 29 points in the 12 minutes alone. In only 30 minutes tonight, Joe scored 37 points, to go along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. He made 10 3’s in the game, also a career high.
Alan Anderson: B+
Anderson played well tonight, but was obviously overshadowed by some of the other players. He scored 13 points on 5-7 shooting and also made a pair of 3’s. He served his role well tonight.
Andray Blatche: A-
Blatche feasted tonight on the Sixers’ bad interior defense. He had 20 points and 5 rebounds on 8-12 shooting. The Sixers really have no answer for him when he is taking good, smart shots.
The Nets have another winnable home game on Wednesday night when they host the Washington Wizards. FRWD will have full coverage of the game.