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Wizards snap 6-game skid with 106-103 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers

Washington Wizards v Philadelphia 76ers
Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma played another superb game in the team’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

The Wizards snapped two trends — 76ers’ five-game winning streak and their own six-game losing binge — with a 106-103 win in Philadelphia.

With Bradley Beal out of action for a second straight game, the Wizards were once again led by an outstanding performance from Kyle Kuzma, who scored an efficient 24 points without dominating the ball and added three blocks.

Corey Kispert was excellent off the bench with 11 points on 6 shots (including three three-pointers) and 6 rebounds in just 18 minutes.

Spencer Dinwiddie shot poorly (just 4-16 from the floor) but finished with a triple-double — 14 points, 12 rebounds (including 5 offensive boards) and 10 assists.

Rui Hachimura had a good scoring game — 7-10 shooting — and added three assists.

Daniel Gafford held up to an aggressive Joel Embiid (40.5% usage rate!!!) about as well as anyone could considering the path of destruction Embiid has wrought through the league the past couple months.

Embiid was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month in December, and then played even better in January. Last night, he had some gaudy numbers — 27 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists — but was limited to 11-27 shooting from the floor.

Philly’s player of the game was Tyrese Maxey, who consistently made Wizards defenders look like they were playing in slow-motion. He finished with 22 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and if the three-point shooting is for real, he has a chance to be a quality guard for many years.

The Wizards won despite being the 76ers shooting better from the floor and winning the turnover battle because Washington crashed the glass and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds. Credit for that goes to Dinwiddie and Gafford, each of whom had 5 offensive 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.

Four Factors: Wizards 106 at 76ers 103

FOUR FACTORS 76ERS WIZARDS
FOUR FACTORS 76ERS WIZARDS
EFG 0.511 0.506
OREB 10 15
TOV 4 8
FTM 10 15
PACE 90
ORTG 115 118

Key Stats

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 in this game. 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 112.3. 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.

Key Stats: Wizards

WIZARDS MIN POSS PTS ORTG USG PPA GmSC +/-
WIZARDS MIN POSS PTS ORTG USG PPA GmSC +/-
Kyle Kuzma 35 66 24 130 23.3% 269 32.6 8
Corey Kispert 18 33 11 180 17.7% 337 20.4 -3
Spencer Dinwiddie 30 56 14 102 36.3% 126 12.9 4
Rui Hachimura 19 36 14 134 26.5% 193 12.6 10
Daniel Gafford 21 40 9 138 20.1% 126 9.3 -7
Montrezl Harrell 27 50 11 147 12.7% 92 8.4 3
Deni Avdija 26 48 8 98 13.5% 63 5.6 8
Raul Neto 17 32 9 120 22.7% 73 4.2 0
Aaron Holiday 18 34 2 105 7.4% -37 0.0 -8
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 29 54 4 55 14.0% -61 0.0 0

Key Stats: 76ers

76ERS MIN POSS PTS ORTG USG PPA GmSC +/-
76ERS MIN POSS PTS ORTG USG PPA GmSC +/-
Tyrese Maxey 38 70 22 149 21.7% 270 40.3 9
Joel Embiid 35 66 27 105 40.5% 130 18.1 4
Isaiah Joe 25 46 11 163 12.2% 161 15.7 -1
Tobias Harris 41 77 18 99 22.7% 61 10.0 -1
Danny Green 27 50 6 143 9.1% 81 8.6 -5
Matisse Thybulle 34 63 3 116 4.0% 40 5.3 -4
Andre Drummond 13 24 4 149 19.1% 91 4.7 -7
Georges Niang 24 45 12 92 24.0% 3 0.3 -2
Myles Powell 4 7 0 0 10.4% -349 0.0 -8