On the second night of a back-to-back, the Wizards rode the offensive rebounding exploits of Marvin Bagley III and Justin Champagnie — both starting because of injuries (or the need to rest) for the usual starters — to keep the score close. The duo had five offensive boards between them in the first quarter. They finished the game with seven.
The Sixers then accumulated a 15-point lead in the second quarter, which the Wizards whittled to as little as five in the third. Things escalated quickly — Philadelphia led by 24 at the end of three and by as much as 36 in the fourth before Washington’s Garbage Time Gang cut final margin to 19.
Washington Wizards big man Marvin Bagley III. NBAE via Getty Images
Philadelphia was so far ahead that Tyrese Maxey and Paul George didn’t have to make an appearance in the fourth.
Maxey, who reminds me very much of prime Gilbert Arenas, torched the Wizards for 35 points, 6 assists and 4 steals in 29 minutes.
Jared McCain came off the bench to produce 14 points and 5 assists…and the Sixers were +37 in his 25 minutes. Philly was +26 in 21 minutes when big man Adem Bona, who somehow got just 5 rebounds, was out there.
As for the Wizards, weirdly defense wasn’t the major problem. The Sixers were reasonably efficient (118 offensive rating — points per 100 possessions), but only about two points per 100 possessions above their season average. For Washington, the defensive performance was almost six points per 100 possessions better than their season norm. They could not slow Maxey, but then no one really is this season.
The Wizards lost because their offense collapsed — 44.9% shooting (effective field goal percentage), 25.0% from three, and 15 turnovers. Here’s their offensive rating by quarter:
115 — almost league average968993
That fourth quarter number was boosted by the team’s 122 offensive rating when Gill entered the game for garbage time.
Just as it was in their win against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Wizards defense was clearly trying to protect the paint. It was less successful against Philly, who outscored Washington 54-44 inside.A couple defensive issues — off-ball defenders ball watching and a tendency to over help. Kyshawn George was particularly guilty of straying from his man one pass away because he wanted to help on Maxey. It led to easy passes and open threes.Another defensive issue while I’m scanning the notebook — Wizards defenders have to do a better job of communicating. Philly got several open looks when one Wizards defender thought they were switching and his teammate stayed with his man.Bagley is an offensive rebounding machine. Last night, he added some defensive presence, blocking five shots and altering a few others.Will Riley played well in his most extended action of the season — 13 points on 5-6 shooting plus four rebounds an assist and a steal in 26 minutes. His previous high in minutes was 12.I’m not sure why Justin Champagnie doesn’t have full-time starter status. I get they want to give minutes to Khris Middleton, but Champagnie is better, is available every day, and might have a future with the Wizards.
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)FOUR FACTORSWIZARDS76ERSLGAVGeFG%44.9%53.4%54.4%OREB%29.6%26.0%26.4%TOV%14.7%9.8%13.1%FTM/FGA0.2610.1180.222PACE102100.2ORTG100118115.8
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 so far this season is 115.1. 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.
WIZARDSMINPOSSORTGUSG+PTSPPA+/-Marvin Bagley III265615116.4%3.21719Will Riley265616312.4%3.3148-10Malaki Branham112314923.0%1.83115Justin Champagnie245110324.8%-1.6112-7Tristan Vukcevic224611229.7%-0.5107-28Kyshawn George337110017.1%-1.945-7Bilal Coulibaly25536010.1%-3.031-20CJ McCollum24517823.9%-4.6-8-10Cam Whitmore16354827.8%-6.5-74-18Bub Carrington25536727.1%-7.0-66-25Anthony Gill8171964.3%0.6801676ERSMINPOSSORTGUSG+PTSPPA+/-Tyrese Maxey296114137.2%5.741723VJ Edgecombe245012818.5%1.123510Andre Drummond173713927.5%2.32449Jared McCain255411323.0%-0.315337Dominick Barlow204216016.1%3.01565Jabari Walker245210818.4%-0.81208Justin Edwards337010611.9%-0.85814Adem Bona22462334.6%2.57326Paul George18389124.8%-2.3806Eric Gordon13277910.8%-1.1-11-11Hunter Sallis8178016.2%-1.0-20-16Johni Broome8172234.6%-5.4-284-16