The Wizards faced a tired and short-handed Phoenix Suns and did exactly what they should have — stomped them early and hard. Washington did let their collective foot of Phoenix’s neck and let the Suns back to within one point, but they hit the gas again when Deandre Ayton and Chris Paul got some rest, and coasted home with a 25-point victory.

The story of the game was Rui Hachimura, who detonated the Suns with 30 points on 11-13 shooting. That’s a 195 offensive rating and 26.0% usage, which is outlandish efficiency.

For the Wizards, it was their third consecutive victory and fourth in five games — a relief for the team after 10 straight losses. The recent victories are keeping Washington in contention for the play-in, which continues to be their mission.

Good Stuff

• Rui Hachimura need just 28 minutes to tie his career high of 30 points. His previous 30-point nights came in 40 minutes against the Charlotte Hornets and 38 minutes vs. the Los Angeles Clippers.
• The good version of Kyle Kuzma made an appearance — 22 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists on excellent efficiency. He shot 8-17 from the floor, including 2-4 from three, and committed just 1 turnover.
• Kristaps Porzingis was good — 24 points, 7 rebounds and a steal. His 3 turnovers are edging towards the “too high” range, but he was solid overall, including on the defensive end.
• Monte Morris played well in his matchup with Chris Paul — 12 points on 8 field goal attempts, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, and his usual zero turnovers.
• Daniel Gafford rebounded, scored inside and protected the rim, as he and Porzingis continued to play well together. Entering the game, the Wizards had a net rating of +24.0 in 85 minutes with Porzingis and Gafford on the floor together since the team traded to acquire Porzingis last season. That number is likely to be up after last night.
• Delon Wright was outstanding on defense. He had 3 more steals in just 15 minutes.
• In garbage time, Johnny Davis made a nice cut down the lane for a layup. He also stepped into a three-point attempt. It missed, but it was good to see him take the shot without hesitation.
• Don’t get fooled by how close the offensive rebounds totals were — the Wizards annihilated Phoenix on the glass. Washington had 12 offensive rebounds to the Suns’ 19 defensive boards, an offensive rebounding percentage of 38.7%. Phoenix managed a ratio of 11 offensive rebounds to 31 Wizards defensive rebounds, just 24.4%. In total, the Wizards outrebounded the Suns 46-30.

Not So Good Stuff

• Corey Kispert missed shots — just 2-6 from the floor and 1-5 from three.
• Deni Avdija made some shots and was good enough on defense, but he also committed three turnovers on just 8 total possessions used.

One Last Thing

Could we put a moratorium on the propaganda that performances like this have been even remotely what Hachimura has done all season? When he was sidelined with the bone bruise in his ankle, Hachimura’s PPA for the season was 67. Reminder: in PPA, 100 is average and higher is better. Replacement level is 45.

In the four games he’s been back, his PPA is a whopping 193. This is a great development for the Wizards — if it continues. He deserves kudos for the past week, but we can also acknowledge the reality that it’s a marked change in his performance. Through the first 16 games of the season, his play was subpar. It’s been great the last four. Now comes the hard part: consistency.

Here’s a quick look at Hachimura’s performance by PPA score range in the 20 games he’s played so far this season:

• 200+ — 2 (10%)
• 150+ — 4 (20%)
• 100+ — 9 (45%)
• 100> — 11 (55%)
• 45> — 6 (30%)
• Negative — 3 (15%)

Four Factors

Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses 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, I usually find the raw numbers more useful when analyzing a single game.

Stats & Metrics

Below are a few performance metrics, including the Player Production Average (PPA) Game Score (very similar to the one I used to call Scoreboard Impact Rating). 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).

Game Score (GmSC) converts individual production into points on the scoreboard. The scale is the same as points and reflects each player’s total contributions for the game. The lowest possible GmSC is zero.

PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. But some readers prefer it, so I’m including PPA scores as well. Reminder: in PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples producing weird results.

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 112.0. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%.

ORTG and USG are 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.