The Wizards got blown out again, this time a 22-point drubbing by the Dallas Mavericks. In a league that scores 112 points per 100 possessions, the Wizards scored fewer than 100 for a second straight game. And for a second straight game, they were defensively inept, allowing a defensive rating of 116 (yes, the exact drtg they posted in their loss to the Detroit Pistons).

Once again, nearly everyone on the team played poorly. Robin Lopez was good with 18 points on 9 shots, but had just 5 rebounds and committed 3 turnovers in 32 minutes.

The rest of the team was below average. Russell Westbrook played hard as usual, but couldn’t carry the offense with Bradley Beal’s league-leading scoring on the sideline.

Davis Bertans and Ish Smith returned to the lineup. Unsurprisingly, neither was much good — it’s tough to excel in a first game back after extended injury absences.

Deni Avdija had another rough outing. He appears to have lost confidence in his three-point shooting abilities, and it looks like he needs to retool his shooting mechanics. Unlike most shooters, Avdija goes straight into his three-point shots without what shooting coaches call “the dip.” In theory, this speeds up his release and helps him get shots away before defenders arrive.

But, coaches teach the dip for a reason — it engages the body’s natural biomechanics for gathering and leaping. The dip helps bring the legs into the shot, which helps provide power and a natural flow — catch, gather, leap, release.

Without the dip, Avdija’s body contorts when he shoots with his arms and legs going towards the basket and his rear end pushing the opposite direction. Not getting his legs into the shot diminishes power and accuracy, which shows in his cratering three-point percentage.

Don’t think I’m singling Avdija for this loss, though. It was a true team effort to stomped again. Alex Len, Garrison Mathews, and Chandler Hutchison played 52 minutes between them. During those minutes, they were a collective 0-11 from the floor with 4 turnovers and 6 fouls. That’s just punishing to the team.

Add in Smith, and the tally goes to 74 minutes, 1-17 shooting, a made three, 5 turnovers, and 10 fouls.

The Mavericks won despite a ho-hum game from Luka Doncic and subpar shooting (just .500 effective field goal percentage) because they dominated the boards (14-9), won the turnover battle 14-7, and made free throws (19-12 advantage over the Wizards). The Dallas centers had their way inside — Boban Marjanovic and Dwight Powell each had 4 offensive rebounds. Washington centers combined for 7 defensive boards.

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.

PPA is a per possession stat. 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.