Richard Jefferson shaves his own head, so before yesterday he had never visited the Weehawken barber shop where his brother Lovell works.
“Today, I just wanted to get out of my house a little early, so I went there,” Jefferson said. “I’m like, ‘If I have a bad game, I’m never coming here again.’ “
Jefferson figures to be back.
Thanks in large part to Jefferson, there was no close shave against the Sonics last night. The Net forward scored a season-high (and game-high) 31 points to help his team coast to a 101-88 victory. It was the highest offensive output of any Net this season.
“He did a lot of great things,” Net coach Byron Scott said. “The one thing is he didn’t take any bad shots. He took everything in the flow of the game, everything in the rhythm.”
Jefferson was in a rhythm throughout his 37 minutes, shooting 10-of-13 from the field and converting all nine free throws. Early in the game, he drove the lane and converted easy points in the paint as he and Kenyon Martin (25 points) destroyed Seattle down low.
In the fourth, Jefferson stepped outside to showcase his burgeoning 3-point range. He buried back-to-back 25-footers, the second of which gave the Nets a 97-67 lead with 6:46 remaining.
Net guard Kerry Kittles joked afterward, “That’s my territory.”
Said Jefferson: “My shooting has improved a little bit this year. For the most part, I just got hot. My teammates did a great job of feeding me.”
The refs have been feeding Jefferson the ball on the free-throw line, as the 6-foot-7 forward has made a concerted effort to get to the line of late. In the past five games, he’s attempted 40 free throws and made 36.
The Nets, meanwhile, earned their first three-game win streak of the season.
“We understand we’ll have a rough stretch,” Jefferson said. “Last year it was the end of the season. This year it’s at the beginning.
“I wouldn’t say just this game, but the last three games have helped our confidence in knowing what we can do.”