Brooklyn Nets: 3 takeaways from no-stress win over Wizards

3. Strong overall night for Hollis-Jefferson

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is playing more and more like the player we expected to see this season, at least before his offseason was derailed by a persistent hip injury sustained in August that lingered into the regular season.

In Friday’s win over the Washington Wizards, Hollis-Jefferson scored 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting, had a team-high nine rebounds, dished out six assists and notched a steal.

Down the stretch, Hollis-Jefferson drew the toughest assignment, taking on All-Star point guard John Wall.

Since replacing Jared Dudley as the starting 4 for the Brooklyn Nets 10 games ago, Hollis-Jefferson is averaging 10.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steals in 29.0 minytes per game, shooting 42.3 percent overall and making 5-of-10 from 3-point range.

That has boosted his overall numbers on the season to 9.8 points and 5.9 rebounds in 24.1 minutes over 26 games, with his shooting at 40.9 percent overall and 25.0 percent from deep.

RHJ missed the opener while still awaiting medical clearance for his strained adductor, then missed the next two games on paternity leave. He later sat out Brooklyn’s Nov. 16 game at Washington with a sprained ankle.

His stats are still well below last season’s marks of 13.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 28.2 minutes and his shooting badly trails last seasons 47.2 percent overall mark (he shot 24.1 percent from 3-point land).

The other area where Hollis-Jefferson can’t seem to get things straightened out is at the foul line, where he shot 71.2 percent as a rookie, 75.1 percent in his second season and 78.8 percent last year. After going 3-for-5 on Friday, he’s at 62.9 percent from the stripe this season.

But he’s still much closer to the player he was last season since returning to the starting unit and his defensive work has been top-notch, as he is willing to guard every opponent’s best offensive player, regardless of position.

A team could do worse than having a defensive stopper against 1 through 5 that can get you 10-12 points and wreak a little havoc with his driving and dishing.