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Jefferson leads Nets to win against SuperSonics

Nov 24, 2007 - 7:52 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Richard Jefferson scored 30 points to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 98-93 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics on Friday.

Thanks to Jefferson, who entered the game averaging a career-high 24.5 points, the Nets have put together a modest two-game winning streak after losing six straight.

"We've got a long ways to go," Jefferson said. "Tonight was disappointing in that we had a team that's been struggling at home and we gave them confidence. If we want more, we've got to expect better from ourselves."

The Nets led by as many as 13 in the second half but were clinging to a 96-93 lead when Jefferson missed a jumper with six seconds to play. Seattle got the ball upcourt quickly but Delonte West was fouled by Vince Carter before he could get off a potential game-tying 3-pointer.

West missed both free throws, the second intentionally, and Jefferson hauled down the rebound and was fouled.

West scored 17 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter and rookie Jeff Green added 14 and 14 rebounds for Seattle, which has dropped three in a row and is 0-5 at home.

While Green had a strong outing, fellow rookie Kevin Durant struggled. Harassed by Jefferson most of the night, Durant scored 12 points and was just 4-of-12 from the field.

"They did the same thing everybody else does," Durant said when asked about how Jefferson and the Nets defended him. "I just didn't knock down all the shots I usually hit but that's how this game is, that's how some nights are, you just gotta play through it."

Vince Carter came off the bench for New Jersey and plans to continue doing so for the remainder of the trip after missing five games with a right ankle sprain.

"I just wanted to give them a spark," Carter said. "I was trying to do the whole trip, work my way back in there, earn my minutes."

Carter had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists and Jason Kidd added 14, six and five for the Nets, who scored 20 points off of 20 turnovers by the Sonics.

"We were able to get a couple of key stops at the end," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "We had some missed opportunities and we maybe could have extended the led a little bit, but we did enough to win the game."