The game was a bit of a slog with both teams bricking shots and committing turnovers, but the Wizards emerged with a 97-79 win against the Indiana Pacers.

The Good

• Tajhere McCall had an outstanding game attacking the paint, grabbing rebounds, defending (4 steals and a block in 22 minutes), and providing some on-court leadership. The 27-year-old is likely auditioning for his next overseas team, but he’s putting some nice stuff on film.
• Isaiah Todd had the kind of game the Wizards likely envisioned when they picked him. He had 17 points, 8 rebounds and a couple blocks in 27 minutes. Now, the efficiency was lacking, and he fouled a lot on defense, but it was easily his best effort of the summer league — both in terms of production and in how hard he seemed to try.
• Jordan Schakel seemed to be doing a Stephen Curry impersonation all night, and he finished with 21 points on 12 field goal attempts, as well as 7 rebounds and 5 assists. So why did I end up kinda annoyed at his game? Four sloppy turnovers (part of the Curry bit?) and one terrible decision — in the third quarter, an Indiana big man picked him up in transition. The big played back, as if daring Schakel to shoot. Schakel’s super-power? Shooting threes. The correct decision? Let it fly. What does Schakel do? Fancy dribbles that took him nowhere, some fakes and jukes that did the same, and then a drive to the basket that ended with him dribbling the ball of his leg for a turnover.
• Pat Spencer didn’t look like an all-time great lacrosse player slumming on a basketball court, he looked like a bonafide baller with game and a competitive attitude — 8 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists in 20 minutes. Does he have a chance of cracking an NBA rotation? Nah.
• After getting crushed on the offensive glass in their previous outing, the Wizards cleaned up their act inside and limited the Pacers to a 22.9% offensive rebounding percentage.

The Not-So-Good

• Terry Taylor didn’t play. Taylor came to my attention by being one of the most productive G-League players last season. When he got a shot in the NBA, he played well in a kinda big man role, even though he’s just 6-5 and not much of a leaper. What he has is a nose for the ball and almost freakish motor, which makes him one of my favorite watches in the NBA.
• While Todd had his best game of the summer league, I remain highly dubious of his NBA merits. He shot 7-17 from the floor and just 3-9 from three-point range. He did notch his first assist of summer league against the Pacers.

The 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.

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. 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. 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 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.