I hope you aren’t missing the [Geminid Meteor Shower](https://www.amsmeteors.org/2022/12/viewing-the-geminid-meteor-shower-in-2022/) (Its peak was last night, but it’s should be relatively visible, along Jupiter, Saturn & Mars. Moon’s luminosity (70%+) & light pollution could hurt the phenomenon a bit, though).
Teams:
1. The Wizards are now on an 11-18.
2. The Wizards are currently on 3-11 on the road & 8-7 at home.
3. The Wizards are now on a 4-7 record without Bradley Beal.
4. The Wizards are now 2-11 without Rui Hachimura.
5. The Wizards lost their last 8 games.
[Also, according to Chase Hughes, the longest losing streak of the Washington Wizards since 2012.](https://twitter.com/ChaseHughesNBCS/status/1603246558388301826)
6. The Wizards lost 11 out of their last 12 games.
7. The Wizards lost their 4th game in a row to an opponent with a record that is better than .500,
8. It’s the 12 straight games the Wizards let their opponent score 110+ points, giving away 141 points tonight.
9. **The Wizards let the Denver Nuggets score 141 points tonight – the highest number of points a team scored vs. us this season (We gave away twice 130 points).**
10. **It was also the highest amount of points the Denver Nuggets scored this season in a single game (141 points, followed by 131).**
11. **It’s also the 3rd most points the Nuggets gave away to an opponent to score this season in a single game (128 points). Followed by 135 to Portland & 131 to Boston.**
12. **65.1% from FG is a season-high in a single game for the Nuggets, as well as 54 FG (the previous one was 63 vs. the Spurs on November 5th)**
13. The Wizards scored 76% or less from the free throw line, it’s the 7 in the last 8 games it happened.
14. The Wizards’ 56.5% (13/23) from FT is the 2nd worst we had this season (2nd to 52.4% FT we had vs. the [Grizzlies on 102-92 W on November 13th](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202211130WAS.html)).
15. Tonight’s game is the 1st game in 6 road games in the West.
16. **It’s the Denver Nuggets’ 3rd straight win after 3 losses in a row beforehand.**
17. It’s the first time this season the Denver Nuggets had 3 days of rest between 2 games.
18. Coming to play tonight, the Denver Nuggets had 7 players averaging 10+ points per game, with each player playing at least 16 games & 384 total minutes:
Jokic with 23.8 PPG, KCP with 11.0 PPG, Jamal Murray with 18.3 PPG, Bruce Brown with 10.9 PPG, Aaron Gordon with 16.7 PPG, Michael Porter Jr. with 16.4 PPG, and Bones Hyland with 14.2 PPG (All of them off-bench).
19. The Nuggets won their last 3 games vs. the Washington Wizards.
20. **Will Barton & Monte Morris returned to Denver for the first time since the trade that sent them to the Wizards.**
21. **The Nuggets score 42.2%+ from FG – the Nuggets have yet to fail to have a game with below 42.2% from FG.**
22. **Before this game, the Nuggets had the 2nd best offensive rating (116.7) & 2nd worst defensive rating (115.2) and tonight we saw why.**
23. The Wizards’ broadcast had an issue with the shot clock animation during the 1st quarter (on the bottom right), they switched the usual red background & white digits (It became blank red) to black background & light orange digits after.
24. The Nuggets won the Wizards 38-31 in the 1st quarter, despiting being 0/2 from 3PT vs. 5/9 by the Wizards.
25. The Nuggets scored 32 out of their points in the Wizards’ paint (16/20 – 80%), with only 1 baseline jumper. 32 out of their 34 points were made from the field goal.
26. The Nuggets were 17/23 from FG (73.9%) vs. the Wizards 12/23 (53.3%).
27. Nuggets led the 1st half 72-67 despite shooting 1/9 from 3PT (11.1%, only a single 3PT by Brown) vs. 11/19 3PT by the Wizards (57.9%).
28. The Wizards were just 4/8 from FT (50%) vs. the Nuggets 15/17 (88.2%) in the 1st half.
29. The Nuggets scored most of their points in the paint in the 1st half – out of the Nuggets’ 28/45 FG, they were 1/9 from 3PT & 1/2 from baseline jumpers. So it means they were 26/34 (76.4%) from inside the Wizards’ paint. 90’s basketball vs. the Wizards’ modern one.
30. It’s the 3rd game this season the Wizards give away 102 points or more in the 1st 3 quarters (We all remember the 2 games straight we had Charlotte Hornets 107 ([Lost 116-117](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202212020CHO.html)) followed by giving 105 points to the Lakers in 3 quarters ([130-119 L](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202212040WAS.html)).
31. The Nuggets are the best 3PT% team in the NBA (39.4% from 3PT with 30.7 3PA) & **the Wizards lost despite them shooting only 4/16 tonight (25%).**
32. **The Wizards also had a loss tonight despite having 13 TOV vs. 18 TOV by the Nuggets.**
33. **The Nuggets were 54/83 from FG tonight (65.1%) – the best FG% an opponent scored vs. the Wizards this season (**[2nd best now is 55.6% by the Nets in the 128-86 L on November 4th](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202211040WAS.html)**).**
34. **The Wizards’ loss despite a 48/91 FG (52.7%) & 19/39 3PT (48.7%).**
35. **The Wizards’ loss tonight was despite scoring 128 points – 2nd most points we scored this season in a single game (We had** [142-127 W vs. the T-Wolves on November 28th](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202211280WAS.html) **& the rest are 121 or less).**
36. **The Wizards had 2nd best 3PT% (48.7%) this season & loss.**
**The same goes for our best 3PT% game (**[17/34 – 50% from 3PT – 120-121 L to OKC](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202211160WAS.html)**).**
37. **The Wizards also lost despite having their most assists in a single game this season – 40 assists vs. the Nuggets’ 31 assists.**
38. **The Nuggets were 49/64 in the paint tonight (76.56%) & 41/50 (82%) from inside the half circle inside the paint (Which is just under the rim).** [Just look at the shooting chart from this game – disgusting!](https://www.nba.com/game/was-vs-den-0022200422/game-charts?period=All)
39. **Both teams had 6 players with double-figures each, and also 3 players on each team with 20+ points each.**
40. **6 out of 9 players in the Wizards made at least one 3-pointer tonight, including the entire starting lineup.**
41. **The Wizards also had 4 players who made 4 3-pointers this game – Kuzma (4/8), Barton (4/8), Kispert (4/6) & Morris (4/7).**
**Number 4 is also the number of Nuggets players who took one 3-pointer or more & made none of them – Gordon 0/1, Jokic 0/2, KCP 0/2 & Braun 0/1.**
42. **Everyone in the Nuggets’ starting lineup had a positive plus/minus (+13 or more, actually). EACH PLAYER OF THEIR ENTIRE BENCH UNIT HAD A NEGATIVE PLUS/MINUS.**
Players (Ish Smith at the end):
1. Rui Hachimura missed his 13th game in a row, Beal his last 5th, Wright his last 24th & KP his first after 17 straight games without missing any (Only 2nd time he missed a game this season in 28 games, after playing just 51 games last season (Both for Mavs & Wizards).
2. Monte Morris is back after missing 2 straight games.
3. **Taj Gibson was in the starting lineup for the first time this season.**
4. **Daniel Gafford has yet to be in the starting lineup this season, despite playing all games this season (29 GP, including tonight).**
5. **Monte Morris lost a tooth in the 1st quarter (According to the Wizards’ broadcast),** [after slipping & falling down hard on his chin (Somehow Jokic got called for a personal foul).](https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=53&GameID=0022200422&Season=2022-23&flag=1&title=Jokic%20P.FOUL%20(P1.T1)%20(A.Moyer-Gleich))
6. **Will Barton is the leading 3-pointer scorer in the Denver Nuggets’ franchise history – 804 3PTS in 8 seasons & 479 games.**
7. **Monte Morris & Will Barton combined for 42 points on 14/26 shooting FG (53.8%), 8/15 3PT (53.3%), 6/10 FT (60%), 2 REBS, 16 assists, 2 steals, 0 blocks & 5 TOV (All by Barton) in combined 63:13 minutes. Also, a combined plus/minus of minus 15 (-1 by Monte & -14 by Barton).**
8. Deni Avdija has yet to miss a game this season (He played all 82 games last season), and the same with Daniel Gafford (All of them off-bench).
9. It’s the 10th straight game Michael Porter Jr. missed this season, missing only 1 game until that point.
10. Kuzma scored 20+ points in 12 out of his last 13 games.
11. Kuzma scored 20+ points in the last 6 games, including tonight.
12. Kuzma with his 24th game in a row with at least one 3-pointer.
13. Kuzma had 24 points & plus/minus of -24 despite shooting 9/16 FG (4/8 3PT & 2/6 FT).
14. Kuzma missed 8 straight free throws before making 2/2 from FT in the 4th (Started 0/4 FT, like he had the whole last game).
15. [**Jeff Green (Former Wizards as well) baptized Daniel Gafford in the 1st quarter**](https://streamable.com/8vzsmk)**.**
16. **Will Barton had 7 assists before his 1st TOV tonight in the 1st half.**
17. **Will Barton’s 7 assists with Monte Morris’ 6 assists had only 1 TOV (was 13 assists & 0 TOV at one point).**
18. **Will Barton’s 9 assists is a season-high (Short 1 assist of tying his career-high of 10 assists), started with 7 assists & 0 TOV, and ended up with 9 assists & 5 TOV.**
19. **Will Barton led the Wizards with 17 points in half-time, off-bench.**
20. **Barton with 2nd straight game with 4 3-pointers (in both games he finished 4/8 from 3PT).**
21. **Will Barton with 2 straight games of 22+ points & 7+ assists.**
22. **It’s also 2nd straight game Will Barton scores exactly 22 points off-bench & leading the bench unit in points.**
23. **Monte Morris had a great night: 20 points on 7/11 FG (4/7 3PT & 2/3 FT), 7 assists (0 TOV!) & 1 steal.**
24. **Jokic’s 1st half: 18 points on 8/11 FG (72.7%, 8/9 – 88.9% in paint – got blocked one by Gafford), 0/2 3PT, 2/3 FT, 8 REBS (2 Off. Rebs), 6 assists (4 TOV), 3 steals & 1 block.**
25. **Jokic had 31 points with 5:55 left in the 3rd quarter (6/6 FG & 1/1 FT) by that point – all his points in paint or FT.**
26. **Jokic had 15 points alone in the 3rd quarter alone: 7/7 FG (all in paint) & 2/2 FT, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal & 3 TOV.**
27. **Jokic with a season-high of 43 points on 17/20 FG (All of them in the paint), 0/2 3PT & 9/10 FT.**
28. **Jokic had 8 turnovers tonight, his 2nd most this season.**
He had 10 turnovers on [November 3rd, 2022 vs. the OKC (122-110 W)](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202211030OKC.html). He also had 15 PTS (6/9 FG & 3/3 FT), 13 REBS (All defensive), 14 AST & 1 TOV (+15 on plus/minus.
A triple-double that is also a ‘fake’ “quadruple-double”.
29. **Barton (4/7 3PT) & Morris (3/3 3PT) had 7 out of the Wizards’ 11 3PT in the 1st half on 7/10 3PT (The rest of the Wizards were 3/9).**
30. Deni hasn’t dunked in his last 4 games, including tonight ([The last time was vs. the Bulls on December 7th, 2022)](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/pbp/202212070CHI.html).
31. It’s the 2nd game in a row Deni doesn’t score 10+ points.
32. **Deni scored at least one 3-pointer in his last 4 games, including tonight.**
33. **Deni in the last 5 games (including tonight):10.4 PTS on 50% FG (8.0 FGA), 33.3% 3PT (3.6 3PA), 75% FT (1.6 FTA), 6.6 REBS (0.6 Off.Rebs), 4.4 AST (1.4 TOV), 1.6 STL, 0.2 BLK, 3.2 Personal Fouls & plus/minus of negative 6.0 in 34.5 minutes played**
34. Jokic records a career-high in assists & FG% this season (And for the first time over 60%), despite 2nd lowest career 3PT, so far.
35. Kuzma straight of 3 games streak with at least 4 3-pointers or more ended tonight.
36. Goodwin failed to get a career-high in a traditional stat tonight after 3 games straight.
37. It’s the 4th game in a row Goodwin had 2+ steals in one game.
38. Jokic scored has 3 games streak of 30+ points (W in all of them), and he scored 30+ points in 4 out of his last 5 games.
In fact, the Nuggets won in 6 out of their 8 games when Jokic scores 30+ points.
39. When Jokic scores 30+ points this season (so far), he also gets at least 9 REBOUNDS & at least 9 assists, and on 55%+ FG.
40. **Kispert had double-digits in points after 3 games without doing so.**
41. **Kispert was 3/4 from 3PT in the 4th quarter.**
42. **Kispert had 4 3-pointers tonight (4/6 shooting), FOR THE FOURTH TIME this season (He also had one game with 5 3PT on 5/8 3PT** [vs. Miami on November 18th](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202211180WAS.html)**)**
43. Kuzma failed in the clutch with just 5 points.
44. It’s the first time Kentavious Caldwell-Pope & Ish Smith faced the Wizards since he got traded for Will Barton & Montre Morris.
45. KCP also records a career-high in 3-point percentages this season (46.1% on 4.6 3PA, for the 2nd time in his career scoring on 40%+ from 3PT.
46. **Crazy stats Will Barton had before this match:**
**He got blocked 17 times this season – the 3rd most** (Kuzma got blocked 19 times & KP 17 times as well), **despite playing just 582 minutes**.
He took 203 FGA this season and got blocked 17 times (8.3%) – getting blocked every 11.94 FGA.
**He is getting blocked every 34.235 minutes**, which translates to every 34+(235/1000)\*60 (Because 235/1000 = (1/60)\*x), or every 34 minutes & 14.1 seconds).
Only 2nd to Devin Dotson – getting blocked every 24 minutes (Total 48 minutes played, also only 8 FGA, so getting blocked every 4 shots for this small sample).
**Some Ish Smith facts from this game & beyond:**
1. **Ish Smith is playing for the first time vs. the Wizards in the Denver Nuggets uniform, playing a career-high of playing for 13 different teams in his career, playing his 2nd most games in his career with the Wizards -140 GP in 3 seasons, only 2nd to the Pistons, playing 219 games in 3 seasons – the only 2 teams that he played 100+ games with them.**
2. **Actually, he broke the NBA record for playing for the most number of teams (13) by being traded by the Wizards to the Nuggets in 2022 (Along with KCP for Will Barton & Monte Morris).**
3. **The previous record was held by him & 4 other different players who each played for 12 different NBA teams:**
[Chucky Brown](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/brownch01.html), [Jim Jackson](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jacksji01.html), [Tony Massenburg](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/masseto01.html) & [Joe Smith](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/smithjo02.html) [(Credit to this video by NBA FUN for saving me time to search this myself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYatuOVI4pY) \- that’s the only data I took from his video & that’s why I’ve added this fact).
Fun fact: NONE of them played for the Wizards, at any time in their career.
4. **Ish Smith is playing with the number 14 jersey – the same one he had in the 2020-21 season with the Wizards (In 2022, he had jersey number 4).**
5. **Tonight Ish Smith played his 730 games in the NBA, in his 13th season in the NBA.**
6. Ish Smith is the shortest guy in the Denver Nuggets – 6’0” (The next shortest player are all 6’3”: Bones Hyland, Jamal Murray & Collin Gillespie (TW, and currently injured).
7. [Ish Smith had a clutch game-winner vs. the Bulls 4 years ago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PjavOHjszc)**, and he already had his most clutch performance in a pre-season game with the Nuggets vs. the Phoenix Suns, a** [game-tying shot & a game-winner vs. Phoenix Suns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7y6LW69-Gg) **(Funny enough, the one that could have tied it is named Washington).**
[He was also clutch in college (Bad quality, but 14 years ago!)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g90CKKclXxQ)
8. **Ish Smith wore so far 15 different jerseys in his career & played for 13 different teams (!!!) – NBA record (Playing for so many teams as well), 10 different numbers, while with the first 7 jerseys he wore different numbers on each of them (He broke the streak with the 76ers in 2015, playing again number 5 as he did with the Grizzlies on 2011) in the following order:**
13 (Rockets 2011),5 (Grizzlies 2011),12 (GSW 2012),10 (Magic 2012-13), 15 (Bucks 2013), 3 (Suns 2014), 8 (OKC 2015), 5 (76ers 2015), 4 (Pelicans 2016), 1 (76ers 2016), 14 (Pistons 2017-2019), 14 (Wizards 2020-21),10 (Hornets 2022), 4 (Wizards 2022),14 (Nuggets 2023).
He wore the number 14 jersey the most times – three times (Pistons 2017-19, Wizards 2020-21 & Denver this season).
9. Ish Smith played for 13 out of 30 teams in the NBA (43.3%), including this season.
10. **In total, Ish Smith has been traded 7 times, waived 6 times, and still managed to play for 13 NBA teams – amazing.**
The Rollercoaster ([From the bottom of his Basketball Reference Page)](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/smithis01.html):
**August 23rd, 2010:** **Signed** with the Rockets (Also assigned & recall from their G-league affiliated team, twice!).
**February 24th, 2011:** **Traded** to the Memphis Grizzlies along with Shane Battier for DeMarre Carroll, Hasheem Thabeet & 2013 1st-round pick ([Andre Robison](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/roberan03.html)).
**December 14, 2011:** **Waived** by the Memphis Grizzlies.
**December 16th, 2011**: **Signed** as a free agent with the Golden State Warriors.
**January 13th, 2012**: **Waived** by the Golden State Warriors.
**February 2nd, 2012:** **Signed** as a free agent with the Orlando Magic.
**February 21st, 2013**: **Traded** to the Milwaukee Bucks with Gustavo Ayon & J.J. Redick for Tobias Harris, Doron Lamb, Beno Udrih & cash.
**August 29th, 2013: Traded** to the Phoenix Suns with Viacheslav Kravtsov for Caron Butler.
**July 15th, 2014: Waived** by the Phoenix Suns.
**July 18th, 2014: Signed** a contract with the Houston Rockets.
**October 27th, 2014: Waived** by the Houston Rockets.
**November 7th, 2014: Signed** a contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
**February 19th, 2015: Traded** to the New Orleans Pelicans with Latavious Williams, cash & 2015 2nd-round draft pick for a 2014 2nd-round draft pick (Both picks were conditional & didn’t convey)
**February 19th, 2015: Waived** by the New Orleans Pelicans.
**February 21st, 2015:** **Claimed on waivers** by the Philadelphia 76ers from the New Orleans Pelicans.
**September 8th, 2015: Signed** with the Washington Wizards.
**October 24th, 2015: Waived** by the Washington Wizards.
**October 26th, 2015: Claimed on waivers** by the New Orleans Pelicans from the Washington Wizards.**December 24th, 2015: Traded** to the Philadelphia 76ers for a 2016 2nd-round pick (David Michineau later selected), and a 2017 2nd-round draft pick (Frank Mason III was later selected, while the 2016 2nd-round pick is Denver’s pick).
**July 8th, 2016: Signed** a multi-year contract with the Pistons.
**July 8th, 2019: Signed** as a free agent with the Washington Wizards.
**August 7th, 2021: Signed** a multi-year contract with the Charlotte Hornets.
**February 10th, 2022: Traded** to the Washington Wizards with Vernon Carey Jr. for Montretz Harrell & his expiring contract (Wizards also got trade exception).
**July 6th, 2022: Traded** to the Denver Nuggets with Kenatvious Caldwell-Pope for Will Barton & Montre Morris (Denver also got trade exceptions).
11. Ish Smith also played in the G-league in 2011.
12. The least amount of games he played was for the GSW – just 6 games (1 as a starter) & 63 minutes.
13. With the first 3 jerseys (13,5,12) he wore you can make the number of all the rest of the jerseys numbers he wore (Including repeating these numbers because we have 2 odd numbers (13 & 5) & one even number (12) – It also helps that we have 13 & 12 here to make it faster).
14. The only time he played 82 games was with the Detroit Pistons – 82 GP (35 GS). Also, the 2nd most games he played in one season were also with the PIstons – 81 GP (32 GS)
15. **Ish Smith played 19 games for 5 different teams in the playoffs (5 with Memphis & Wizards each, 4 with the Pistons & Milwaukee each & 1 game with Orlando in the 2011-12 season)**
16. **The most playoffs points (34), minutes (111), FGA (43), FG (16), 3PT (2), 3PA (7 – tied with the Pistons), REBS (16), Def. Rebounds (15), Off.Rebs (1 – tied with the Pistons) ASTS (14 – tied with the Pistons), STL (7), BLK (2), TOV (5), and personal fouls (11) were in the 2020-21 season with the Wizards!**
17. Ish Smith also got a great memory.[**He was only wrong once during this interview**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mr8ECoKNr8) **(I’ll never forget it)**, from 10 months ago, while he was still a Wizards player (After we traded him back from the Hornets).
18. If you need to go somewhere in the U.S.A, you’d probably want to get a word of advice from Ish Smith.
**It took me way longer compared to last time, but that’s because there were plenty of interesting stats tonight!**
Good luck to us next time,
Cheers & peace.
by MrBuckBuck
1 Comment
” Everyone in the Nuggets’ starting lineup had a positive plus/minus (+13 or more, actually). EACH PLAYER OF THEIR ENTIRE BENCH UNIT HAD A NEGATIVE PLUS/MINUS.”
Ya, as a Nuggets fan, this is actually completely normal