![\"Washington](\"https:\/\/platform.bulletsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2026\/01\/gettyimages-2255277266.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWashington Wizards center Alex Sarr played well in the team\u2019s loss to the Phoenix Suns. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
It was a fascinating contrast: the Suns routinely screening for teammates, making hard and timely cuts, and moving the ball to open teammates \u2014 using coordinated teamwork to get good shots, while the Wizards seemed to be playing games of one-on-three.<\/p>\n
This is not to let the team\u2019s defense off the hook. The final numbers (a 110 defensive rating \u2014 5.5 points better than league average) might lead an observer to believe the Wizards defense was pretty good. Don\u2019t be fooled. Through three quarters, the defensive rating was 123.<\/p>\n
With the game out of reach, the Suns took their foot off the proverbial gas pedal and the Wizards had a 64 defensive rating. That result was very much a case of Phoenix missing open looks and throwing the ball away than it was Washington affirmatively playing well.<\/p>\n
A few examples from the numbers? So glad you asked. Through three quarters, the Suns had six turnovers. In the fourth quarter, they committed seven. For the game, Phoenix shot 17-52 \u2014 just 32.7% \u2014 from three-point range. In the first three quarters, it was 16-41 (39.0%). With a little math, we can see they shot just 1-11 from deep in the final period.<\/p>\n
Washington\u2019s defensive plan was to load up on Suns star Devin Booker. Bilal Coulibaly and help defenders limited Booker to 5-14 shooting and left other Suns open and wide-open shots. Booker had a personal best six first-quarter assists, and finished the game with eight.During a stoppage at the 8:13 mark of the first quarter, Phoenix analyst Eddie Johnson said, \u201cIt\u2019s pretty obvious the Suns will get whatever they want on offense. The key is not settling for bad shots.\u201dA truly rare event occurred during last night\u2019s game: Dillon Brooks drove into the lane and \u201ccreated space\u201d by ramming his forearm into Khris Middleton and shoving him back. It was (properly) called an offensive foul.Brooks, by the way, has very little offensive game when he drives if refs don\u2019t let him commit offensive fouls with that off arm. He was unable to get past any of Washington\u2019s perimeter defenders (including Middleton). I wasn\u2019t entirely sure getting past a defender was even a goal. I guess, why would it be if he can just dribble into the lane, shove a defender out of his way, and then take a shot?In my notebook, I had several entries with some combination of \u201cKyshawn George\u201d and \u201csloppy.\u201d He had five first-half turnovers, and they were all either sloppy passes (risky, pointless, inaccurate) or poor ball security. He needs to learn to value possessions.By the way, the Suns had four turnovers in the first half.Phoenix\u2019s Ryan Dunn had a highlight reel put-back dunk because when the shot went up, Tre Johnson and Will Riley watched the ball in flight instead of blocking out.Bub Carrington keeps throwing lobs that make no sense. He\u2019s surprising teammates who (correctly) believe they\u2019re well defended, and the passes themselves are off target.While the above note is about Carrington, in fairness he\u2019s not the only Wizards player tossing up nonsensical lob attempts. Alley-oops are cool and everything, but perhaps the team could benefit by focusing on making plays that increase the team\u2019s odds of scoring.Another notebook entry: \u201cKyshawn looks thoroughly overwhelmed. Tried to pressure Grayson Allen, who just drove by him. Got ripped by Allen.\u201dFor a couple minutes in the second quarter, the Wizards played some real defense on Booker.3:14 \u2014 Coulibaly WOW block on Booker2:14 \u2014 Alex Sarr got switched onto Booker, who drove. Sarr made an impressive recovery block1:46 \u2014 Sarr ended up on Booker again. Booker drove, pump faked under the basket, and then got his shot swallowed by Sarr.I was fairly impressed with Booker\u2019s response to Washington\u2019s defensive attention. He kept making the right passes. While he didn\u2019t always get the assist, he empowered his teammates to make plays.Sarr was good in the losing effort \u2014 19 points, 15 rebounds, 3 blocks. While his 105 offensive rating was more than 10 points below league average, it was 15 points better than the combined offensive rating of his teammates last night.Weird stat line of the night: Suns guard Collin Gillespie had a 92 PPA while shooting 0-6 from the floor. He did it with six rebounds, five assists, four steals and zero turnovers.<\/p>\n
Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball \u2014 shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).<\/p>\n
The four factors are measured by:<\/p>\n
eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)TOV% (turnover percentage \u2014 turnovers divided by possessions)FTM\/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)FOUR FACTORSWIZARDSSUNSLGAVGeFG%43.6%51.1%54.3%OREB%25.0%28.8%26.2%TOV%21.7%13.8%12.8%FTM\/FGA0.2090.1580.212PACE10199.8ORTG92110115.6<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n