Daily Digits is a new daily feature we’re doing at Bullets Forever this year where we look at stats about the Wizards. We’ll dive into the numbers, add context, and discuss how they affect the product on the court.

Today’s stat is Washington’s record when they win the rebounding battle this season, which is...

13-1

It’s hard to look any one team stat in a box score to figure out who won outside of the final score, but rebounding has been a reliable indicator for Washington this season.

On Wednesday, the Wizards beat the Pacers 41-39 on the glass en route to a 107-89 win. They’ve only outrebounded their opponent 14 times this season, but when they won on the glass they’ve won on the scoreboard as well. Their only loss came against the Bulls in the team’s first game after John Wall was ruled out for the season.

When a team is as bad at rebounding as the Wizards, it makes sense that their record looks great when they can win that aspect of the game. When you succeed in the area you struggle the most, odds are everything else is going your way too.

Although Washington has been better in recent weeks, they still have the worst rebounding rate in the league and when they lose on the glass, it shows in the wins and losses. The Wizards are 8-28 (an 18-win pace) when they lose the rebounding battle. They can pull out some wins here and there when they don’t clean up on the glass, but not nearly often enough to keep it from being a concern.

Whether it’s getting Dwight Howard back from injury or adding another rebounder, Washington has to get better on the glass quickly. They can’t just rely on the automatic wins that come once every three games or so when they win the rebounding battle.