Russell Westbrook was great, and the Wizards got decent contributions from up and down the roster to pull off their second shocking upset of the league-best Utah Jazz this season.

Westbrook was sensational with yet another triple-double — 25 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists. He shot 8-15 from the floor and 9-11 from the free throw line. And he committed 3 turnovers in 39 minutes and 81 possessions. At 6-3 and age 32, Westbrook was the game’s leading rebounder — Utah’s Rudy Gobert (7-1) and Royce O’Neal (6-6) grabbed 12 each.

While there was much chatter on social media about the Wizards defense, the truth is their defense wasn’t much good outside a few minutes in fourth quarter. And, neither was Utah’s. Washington shot a scorching .572 efg. The Jazz were about the same at .571. Rebounding was about the same, and Utah had a slight edge at the free throw line. The Wizards won because Utah committed twice as many turnovers (14-7).

Before getting too pumped about the Wizards forcing turnovers, consider that the Jazz entered the game averaging 13.9 turnovers per 100 possessions. The game included 101 possessions. On average, Wizards opponents commit 13.8 turnovers per 100 possessions. In other words, Utah’s turnovers were normal for both teams.

Overall, both teams had a fairly easy time scoring. Washington’s offensive rating (points scored per possession x 100) was 124. Utah’s was 120. League average is 112.

The Wizards’ biggest lead of the night was 19 mid-way through the fourth quarter. The Jazz rallied to make it interesting — something Beal helped by missing a pair of free throws up 4 with 19.2 seconds left in the game. Donovan Mitchell countered with a layup for Utah, and the game seemed primed for a #SoWizards conclusion.

Instead, Beal redeemed himself with a pair of free throws and Bojan Bogdanovic missed a three. Of course, all that was unnecessary because Westbrook hit a 20-foot jumper with 31 seconds left and yelled, “That’s game!”

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

Below are Player Production Average (PPA) results from last night’s game. PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, play-making, 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.