On a night when Coach Jason Kidd was honored for his work last month in helping the team turnaround, the Brooklyn Nets exhibited the fundamental principles that Coach Kidd has put into practice.

Still it took a total team effort in the fourth quarter to hold off a hard charging opponent.

Dallas Mavericks v Brooklyn Nets

The Nets led the Philadelphia 76ers by as much as 15 in the first quarter and 19 in the third, but saw the first lead fall by the wayside and the second one nearly vanish as well. But two key plays by point guard Deron Williams, first hitting a fadeaway jumper to push a two-point lead to four with 3:21 remaining, then getting out in transition to find Mirza Teletovic for a layup that made it a six-point game. Teletovic was also fouled on the play, his free throw put Brooklyn up seven and they held on for a 108-102 win.

“Those were two big plays by Deron there,” Coach Kidd said afterward. “We got the win. That’s the biggest thing for the guys.”

There seemed to be little doubt early on who would come out victorious. Brooklyn started the game by scoring 16 of the game’s first 18 points. They did so with an outstanding defensive effort, forcing six turnovers in the first six minutes of the game.

“The guys are executing the game plan. They are helping each other, they’re active, and that’s what helped us win this game tonight. We had active hands, deflections, steals, and that means everybody is in tune defensively,” Jason said. “In this league, you can play great defense and still be scored on, but if you can get some deflections and kind of disrupt

[opponents’] rhythm, that can help you get a win.”

But the big lead vanished in the second quarter and the Nets fell down by as much as seven points with less than four minutes to go in the half. When Coach Kidd brought his starters back, they swung the momentum and by halftime Brooklyn was back up by five.

The third quarter was all Nets as Brooklyn outscored Philadelphia 30-20. The result was a lead that went as high as 19 and sat at 15 at the outset of the fourth.

Philadelphia came back in the fourth with Brooklyn’s bench in the game and the lead was a tenuous two points when Williams knocked down a fadeaway. Kevin Garnett followed with a huge block, setting up the transition connection from Williams to Teletovic to essentially seal the game.

NEXT UP

The Nets (21-25) are off until Thursday, when they welcome the San Antonio Spurs (35-13) to Barclays Center for a nationally televised matchup.

Brooklyn was without All-Star Joe Johnson for Monday’s game and Coach Kidd was non-committal on whether the guard, who is nursing a right knee injury, would be ready for Thursday’s game.

“It’s been bothering him for some time,” coach Jason Kidd said. “But Joe is not one to complain. So for that, we thought we’d give him the night off. … This is for him to get some rest. We’ll reevaluate him [today] and see how he feels.”

With or without Johnson the Nets will be challenged by the No. 2 team in the Western Conference. Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on TNT.

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