The Washington Wizards squeaked out a one-point overtime win against the Indiana Pacers despite the absence of All-NBA guard Bradley Beal (hip contusion). As makes sense for an overtime game, the margins across the board were Manute Bol thin.

Defense was lacking on both ends of the court. The Pacers had an effective field goal percentage of 61.3% and lost because the Wizards shot better — 62.2%.

Washington had few answers inside against Myles Turner (40 points on 22 field goal attempts, as well as 10 rebounds and 3 blocks) and Domantas Sabonis (28 points on 13 FGA plus 9 boards and 7 assists). Malcolm Brogdon was good — 28-8-8 on 12-22 shooting, plus 2 steals and a block.

The Wizards were led by Spencer Dinwiddie (34 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists — and an offensive rating (points produced per individual possession x 100) of 143. Kyle Kuzma played a much better game two, hitting 10-17 from the floor and 5-8 from three en route to 26 points and 11 rebounds. Raul Neto was outstanding — 18 points on 11 shots, plus 3 assists, 2 steals and a block.

Davis Bertans bounced back from a first game debacle with 4 threes, including a step-back three with 35 seconds left in overtime to put the Wizards ahead for good.

After excellent performances against the Raptors, Daniel Gafford and Montrezl Harrell had rougher outings against Turner and Sabonis.

Weird stat of the night: The Pacers were +18 in Jeremy Lamb’s 24 minutes, and Lamb’s individual production was below replacement level.

Four Factors

Below are the four factors that decide who wins and loses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).

I’ve simplified them a bit. While the factors are usually presented as percentages, that’s more useful over a full season. In a single game, the raw numbers in each category are easier to understand.

PACE is possessions per 48 minutes.

Player Production Average

Player Production Average (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 stat that includes accounting for defense and role. In PPA, 100 is average and higher is better.

The table below is sorted by each player’s total contributions for the game.

POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.

PTS = points scored

ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average last season was 112.3.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%.

ORTG and USG are slightly modified versions of stats created by Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified slightly 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.