Stats, analysis, commentary.
The Washington Wizards got their 12th win of the season, beating the injury decimated Utah Jazz, 125-122, in their final home game before embarking on a seven-game road trip over the next couple weeks.
The game was about what you’d expect between two of the NBA’s worst teams, both of which were missing several of their better players. It was a bit of a slog, but it also had fun moments — especially when youngsters on both teams made nice plays.
The Recitation of Woes
When it came to missed production due to injury, the Jazz were the “winners.” Out of action for Utah were: Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, Keyonte George, John Collins, Walker Kessler, Lauri Markkanen, and Taylor Hendricks. That’s basically the top six of their rotation this season — their starting five and sixth man.
This season, Utah has been good at offensive rebounding (ranking fourth) and getting to the free throw line (seventh). Kessler and Collins are their best offensive rebounders; Sexton, Clarkson, Collins and Markkanen are their free throw producers.
Washington was less wrecked by injuries, but were missing Jordan Poole, Malcolm Brogdon, and Richaun Holmes.
Bright Spots for the Wizards
- Alex Sarr went off early, attacking the paint with aggression, and finishing with style against Utah’s Kyle Filipowski. He finished the night with 21 points (one shy of his career high), 5 rebounds, and 4 assists (one short of his career high). He also had a steal and two blocks.
- Khris Middleton played a strong “veteran leader” game. He picked his spots to attack on offense (14 points), grabbed six rebounds, and handed out six assists.
- Bub Carrington didn’t shoot well (4-10 from the floor and 0-3 from three), but had a strong overall game — 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, just 1 turnover. With the game’s outcome still in doubt late in the fourth quarter, he tied up Isaiah Collier to force a jump ball, which he then won.
- Justin Champagnie made the most of his 23 minutes, hitting 5-9 from the floor, and 4-7 from three-point range.
- Kyshawn George aggressively hunted his shot and competed on defense. He hit 8-17 from the floor and 3-9 from deep, and added 7 rebounds. Three turnovers dragged down his overall offensive efficiency.
- The Wizards started four players age 21 or under (Sarr, Carrington, George, and Bilal Coulibaly). That quartet got 55% of the team’s minutes.
- Washington’s youngsters play an unselfish share-the-ball style that’s complimented by veterans like Middleton and Marcus Smart. Last night, the team produced 32 assists on 42 made field goals.
Four Factors
Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).
The four factors are measured by:
- eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
- OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
- TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
- FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)
In the table below are the four factors using the percentages and rates traditionally presented. There’s also a column showing league average in each of the categories to give a sense of each team’s performance relative to the rest of the league this season.
Stats & Metrics
Below are a few performance metrics. PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).
PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.
POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.
ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average last season was 114.8. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.
USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%.
ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.
+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 114, the league — on average — would produced 22.8 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -2.8.
Players are sorted by total production in the game.