On Monday night, the Nets were defeated by the Philadelphia 76ers by a final score of 106-97.

The Skinny: After falling behind early, the Nets went on a 10-0 run, led by Brook Lopez, to take the lead. But Philadelphia responded with a 10-2 run of its own to regain the lead before Brooklyn again went back ahead. Lopez scored 14 of the Nets’ 28 first-quarter points, which helped the team open a four-point lead after one.

The “Bench Mob” played good minutes to start the second to extend the lead to seven, but a 7-0 run from the 76ers tied the game midway through the quarter. Dorell Wright scored eight straight points for Philadelphia as the teams traded leads. A 10-1 run to close out the first half put the Sixers up seven at the break.

Deron Williams began heating up offensively to start the third, but Spencer Hawes matched D-Will every step and helped Philly establish a double-digit lead. The 76ers shot lights out from the field in the quarter (11-of-16) and led by as many as 14, but a 9-2 Nets’ run to close out the third cut the deficit back to seven heading into the fourth quarter.

Williams remained hot to start the fourth, as the Nets got to within four. But the same trend continued as the 76ers consistently had an answer every time the Nets made a bucket. Philadelphia went up nine with 2:30 to go, and the Nets could not recover from there, as their three-game winning streak came to an end.

High Scorers: Williams led all scorers with 27 points on 10-of-19 from the field, dished out 12 assists for the double-double and even pulled down six boards. A free-throw make in the fourth quarter marked the 10,000th point of D-Will’s career. For the Sixers, Hawes led the way 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double and had seven dimes.

Key Stats: The 76ers matched their season average of points per game (92.0) at the 7:20 mark of the fourth quarter, as they went through stretches of simply not missing shots. Philadelphia shot 40-of-76 (53 percent) for the game.

Who Was Hot: Thaddeus Young had 16 points on 6-of-9 from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds for the double-double. Wright added 15 points off the bench, including three three-pointers. Jrue Holiday continued to torch the Nets this season, finishing with a double-double: 15 points and 11 assists. For the Nets, Lopez scored 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Joe Johnson finished with 20 points on 8-of-11 from the outside and had six assists.

Who Was Not: The Nets were cold all night from three-point range, shooting 6-of-19 (32 percent). Mirza Teletovic was also cold, shooting 2-of-7 in the game.

Fun Fact: Nets’ general manager Billy King spent time in the front office for the 76ers, while Sixers’ team president Rod Thorn was the Nets’ president of basketball operations for a time.

Jim Mancari, SNYNets.com

“Brooklyn” chants filled the Wells Fargo Center early in this game, but those were shot down rather quickly as the 76ers were extremely hot from the outside all game.

The Nets had some stretches of playing poor defense, but it was really Philadelphia just playing great basketball more so than the Nets playing bad. In fact, Brooklyn shot 49 percent from the field, which usually means the game was closer than nine points.

The Sixers looked like the team they advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, not the sub-.500 team that had lost 12-of-13 games heading into this one.

Philadelphia also got plenty of breaks in this one. Holiday and Hawes seem to rise to the occasion every time they play the Nets.

Williams continued his torrid pace, with 22 of his 27 points coming in the second half. But it just wasn’t enough to prevent the loss.

Brooklyn (37-27) is right back in action Tuesday night at home against the New Orleans Hornets. The 7:30 p.m. game will be televised on the YES Network.

Jim Mancari is a Contributor to SNYNets.com. Follow him on Twitter @JMMancari.