Inside the numbers from the Wizards’ loss to the Hornets

The Wizards lost to the Hornets last night despite a career-high scoring night from Davis Bertans. Check out the recap, here.

It was an entertaining game, particularly because of The Davis Bertans Show. The Latvian Laser poured in a personal-best 32 points, shooting 11-18 from the floor and converting two four-point plays. [author error corrected — thanks for the comments!]

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time a Washington player had two four-point plays since Gilbert Arenas.

Four Factors

In his book, Basketball On Paper, Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver formalized the four factors (offensive and defensive) that determines who wins basketball games. The factors:

• Shooting from the floor — measured by effective field goal percentage
• Rebounding — measured by offensive rebounding percentage
• Ball handling — measured by turnover percentage
• Getting to the free throw line — measured by free throws made divided by field goal attempts.

In the NBA, the team that shoots better wins 78% of the time, which was the case in this game. The Hornets and Wizards each had 38 made field goals, but Charlotte was plus-five on made threes.

Many have placed significant responsibility for Washington’s defensive woes on Isaiah Thomas and (to a lesser extent) Thomas Bryant. However, both guys were out with injuries and the Wizards had another poor defensive game, allowing the NBA’s 22nd ranked offense to post a sky-high 120 offensive rating. Washington’s problems on defense run far deeper than Thomas.

Player Production Average and Scoreboard Impact Rating

Below are scores in my overall production metric, Player Production Average (PPA) and its counterpart, Scoreboard Impact Rating (SIR). PPA credits players for things that help the team win and debits them for things that don’t — each in proper proportion. In PPA, 100 is average and higher is better.

SIR translates overall production into points on the scoreboard in this game.