**It’s the last game before Christmas & before the** [“once-a-generation storm”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eagwMGKj6tw) **across the U.S.A.,**
**so I wish you all a Merry Christmas & remain safe, warm & healthy during the storm (Also, drive carefully)!**
**You’ve gone through far worse (Watching the Wizards games, I know it’s a pain, mostly)**
[For more updated data about the storm collected by CNN (Not that I like them or something it’s just that their data that is gathered there seems to be validated elsewhere, from what I checked, It’s also displayed quite comfortably). as well).](https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/storm-tracker/)
**Either way, The Wizards won tonight, so \*Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells\***
[And don’t forget to buy this KP gourmet Christmas gift](https://twitter.com/WashWizards/status/1606424420200992770) \- a low-quality product that isn’t looking like it was supposed to, just like the Wizards themselves (As of lately, not including tonight)!
If you feel like people haven’t made enough mockery of you already, it’s not too late!
Teams:
1. The Wizards are now on a 13-21 record.
2. The Wizards are currently 5-14 on the road & 8-7 at home games.
3. **It was the Wizards’ last road game out of their 6 straight in the West games, ending it up with a 2-4 record.**
**Going to 4 days of rest until December 27th vs. the 76ers at home & then a back-to-back vs. the Suns (At home).**
4. The Wizards are now on a 4-3 record coming to play back-to-back games (After playing the previous night as well)
5. The Wizards won the Kings after the Kings won us in the last 2 straight encounters, and now the historical record (Including Bullets) is 110-95 to the Kings.
6. **The Wizards’ record this December is 2-10.**
7. **The Wizards lost 10 out of their last 12 games and won 2 out of their last 3.**
8. **8** **out of the Wizards’ 9 last games were against .500 or better record team, including tonight.**
9. **The Wizards let their opponents score 110+ points in 16 out of their last 17 games.**
10. **It’s also the 3rd most points we scored in a game this season (Followed by 142 vs. the Timberwolves (142-127 W), 128 vs. the Nuggets (128-141 L).**
11. **It’s also the 3rd best points margin the Wizards had during a W – 14 points difference, followed by 120-99 W over the Pistons (21 points margin) & 142-127 W over the Timberwolves – 15 points Margin.**
12. **In fact, the Wizards won by more than 10 points in only 3 out of their 13 wins (23.08%).**
13. For comparison, the Wizards lost by more than 10 points 5 times this season (out of 21 – 23.8%).
14. **The Wizards let their opponent score 40%+ from FG in their last 17 games (After 2 games straight beforehand that we held our opponents below 40% from FG).**
15. **Both teams were struggling from 3PT – 31.1%, each of the teams shot 32 times from the 3PT area & converted 10 of them – identical!**
16. **The Wizards shot 55.7%+ from FG in their last 2 games (Including tonight).**
17. **The Wizards are 7 wins & 5 losses when shooting 50% from FG (Including tonight).**
18. **The Wizards finally held their opponent below 40% from 3PT after letting them do so in their last 4 games.**
19. **The Wizards didn’t lose a grip on their lead since 1:53 minutes left in the 1st quarter. Starting with Kispert running finger roll layup that made it 24-22.**
20. **The Wizards started the 2nd quarter 28-9 run & led by 30 at one point.**
21. **The Wizards had 30 assists vs. just 19 by the Kings.**
22. **30 assists it’s our 5th best this season (3 W & 2 L record when the Wizards record 30+ assists in a single game).**
23. **The Wizards outscored the Kings in the paint 70-50.**
24. The Wizards were 70.8% from FT tonight vs. 77.1% FT by the Kings – **it’s the Wizards’ 4th game straight scoring lower than 80% from the FT.**
**In fact, the Wizards shot below 80% from FT in 21 out of their 34 games this season, so far – 61.7% of the games this season.**
25. It’s the first time the Wizards win without Barton this season 1-2 record. Some will say he never really showed up this season anyway.
26. **None of the Wizards players scored more than 6 points in the 4th quarter (Kuzma led with 6 points on 3/4 FG, 0/1 3PT) – the ball was shared & out of 9 players playing in this quarter, 7 of them scored – including Wright!**
**It’s actually a good thing – it means we are sharing the ball!**
27. **All of the Wizards players who participated tonight scored (9 players!), compared to 9 out of the 13 Kings players who scored tonight**
**(Mostly due to garbage time, out of 5 players playing 6:27 minutes or less, only Terence Davis scored (2 points))**
28. The Wizards are still struggling when it comes to defensive rebounds – 13 offensive rebounds were taken by the Kings vs. just 5 by the Wizards (They also had a total of 47 rebounds vs. our 40). It led to 12 points by the Kings in 2nd chance points vs. 6 by the Wizards.
29. **The Wizards actually had 24 fastbreak points vs. 18 fastbreak points by the Kings!**
30. The Kings remain unstable despite a great roster – they had 7 games W streak at one point, but only once 3 games W streak since (As well as once 2 games W streak) – **They are 7-8 (7W & 8 L) in their last 14 games, after holding a record of 10-6, previously.**
31. **Malik Monk from the Kings said after the game what we Wizards fans are familiar with too often: “We just had too many possessions where one or two people touched the ball”**
32. The beam first was introduced on **Sept. 16** \- celebrated as “916 Day” in Sacramento – and lit up the sky for the first time on Oct. 29, 2022 [(119-113 W over the Miami Heat)](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202210290SAC.html) \- after starting with 4 straight losses. Since then?
**The Kings are with 17-10, lighting the Beam 17 times. It had to get Aviation approvement & it also stays lit up until midnight of the same day.**
Players:
1. Deni missed his 2nd straight after playing 114 straight games. Will Barton missed his first game after playing 6 straight games.
2. **Delon Wright is back after missing 29 straight games! KP is back after missing 2 straight games!**
3. **Also wishing Domantas Sabonis a quick recovery because he had to leave the game with 2:54 minutes remaining in the game due to a hand injury (He was holding his hand) when the score was 119-102 to the Wizards.**
4. **Delon Wright gets the first player stat of the night because he is fantastic!**
**Despite just 2 points tonight off-bench (In the 4Q),**
**he also had 8 assists (season-high) with 0 TOV, a steal, a rebound & 2 fouls in 15:11 minutes, with plus/minus of +10 – the 3rd best in the team after Kispert (+16) & Kuzma (+11).**
5. **Daniel Gafford remains the Wizards’ iron man – he has yet to miss a single game this season – 34 GP.**
6. **It’s the first time this season that KP & Gafford were in the starting lineup, together!**
7. **Beal scored 20+ points in 15 out of his last 16 games**
[(He had 2 points vs. the Lakers because of an injury 3:29 into the game on December 4th).](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202212040WAS.html)
8. **Beal’s 3PT struggle:**
**In the last 9 games that Beal participated (Including 0/0 due to early injury:6/33 from 3PT (18.2%), despite shooting 2/4 from 3PT tonight he shot 40%+ from 3PT for the first time in 10 games.**
9. **Kuzma scored 20+ points in 16 out of the last 18 games (4 straight, including tonight).**
10. Kuzma with his 29th game in a row with at least one 3-pointer.
11. **Kuzma scored 30+ points for the first time in 7 games (He had 6 games straight without 30+ points).**
12. **Kuzma in the last 11 games (Including tonight):**
**24.9 PTS on 48.9% FG (19.9 FGA), 39.8% 3PT (8.0 3PA), 61.0% from FT (3.7 FTA),7.5 REBS, 3.5 AST (3.3 TOV though, ouch), 1.1 STL, 0.4 BLK, 2.4 personal fouls in 36.9 MP (Minus 7.5 in plus/minus) – from December 4th to tonight December 23rd).**
13. **KP had only 2 points in the 2nd half (1/4 FG, 0/2 3PT).**
14. **KP’s streak of 10+ points in straight games ended tonight with 7 points, after having 10+ points in his last 46 games (!!!), lasting all the way from March 7th, 2022, until tonight (December 24th, 2022).**
Technically, he held this streak from March 7th, 2022, until December 19th (The last time he scored 10+ points) – 287 days, starting from the [133-123 W over the Pacers on March 6th](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202203060WAS.html) (I didn’t count March 6th because it’s like the 0 days).
15. **KP keeps on struggling from 3PT in his last 9 games (Including tonight):5/40 – 12.5% (In 3 of these games he took 6 3-pointers (0/6, 1/6 & 0/6), and he was 0/3 from 3PT tonight.**
16. It’s only the 11th time KP grabs 10+ rebounds in one game out of 30 games he played so far, this season, he has 7 games with 9 rebounds, 2 games with 8 rebounds, 3 games with 7 rebounds, 2 games with 6 rebounds, 3 games with 4 rebounds & 2 games with 2 rebounds.
17. **Rui Hachimura with 2nd season best performance of 21 points off the bench on 9/15 FG (3/7 3PT – his first 3PT since his return yesterday). He also added 5 rebounds, 4 assists & just 1 TOV in 26:56 minutes!**
18. **Rui Hachimura’s three 3-pointers are a season-high (He had 2 3-pointers – 3 times).**
**He was one 3PT away from tying his career-high of 4 3-pointers made**
**(**[March 15th, 2021 vs. the Bucks,](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202103150WAS.html) **he was 4/9 from 3PT – the only time he scored 4 3-pointers in one game!).**
19. **Domantas Sabonis with 2 straight games with triple-double.**
20. **Sabonis with a 10th straight double-double.**
21. **Domantas Sabonis’ stats in the last 10 games:**
**19.9 PTS on 63.4% FG (11.2 FGA), 50% 3PT (1.0 3PA), 75.4% FT (6.9 FTA), 16.1 REBS, 7.5 AST (2.3 TOV), 0.9 STL, 0.4 BLK, 3.1 personal fouls & a plus/minus of +2.6 in 37.2 minutes.**
**In all 10 of these games, he had a double-double, 3 of them with 20+ rebounds, and 3 of them with a triple-double – INSANELY GOOD!**
22. **Kuzma is only 48.0% from the line in the last 8 games – 12/25 FT (2/3 FT tonight).**
23. **It’s Monte Morris’ 14th game (out of 29 games he played) this season with 0 TOV (He had 5 assists & 0 TOV tonight).**
24. **Monte Morris is still the 2nd best player in Assists to Turnover ratio, with 5.88 – 5.1 AST vs. 0.9 TOV (After Kevon Looney, with 7.92 – 2.9 AST to 0.4 TOV in 33 GP), and 1st among guards**
25. Monte Morris finally scored 10+ points after not doing so in his last previous 3 games.
26. **De’Aaron Fox scored 20+ points in his last 5 games after not managing to do so in the 5 games coming previously to that streak.**
27. **De’Aaron Fox had just 3 assists tonight – it’s his 8th game this season (Out of 28) that he has 3 assists or lower.**
**In fact, Fox recorded 10+ assists only 3 times this season(All of them were also double-double games, 3 out of 4 double-doubles that he had this season – he had once in rebounds-points as well).**
28. Gafford failed to score 10+ points tonight after previously doing so in 3 out of his last 4 games.
29. Gafford only 3 rebounds again in 20 minutes (Also bad like last game – 2 rebounds in 19:42 minutes).
30. **Taj Gibson recorded a season-high of 2 turnovers (Also played 5th most minutes in a single game this season – 13:04 minutes tonight).**
31. **Taj Gibson also had 6 fouls (fouled out) in 13:04 minutes and is fouled out for the 2nd time this season (the last time was on** [December 14th, vs. the Nuggets](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202212140DEN.html)**, in 17:57 minutes).**
32. **It’s the 34th time Taj Gibson got fouled out in his NBA career (Including tonight).**
33. **The most times Taj Gibson got fouled out was in his rookie season – 2009-10 – 9 times in a span of 61 games of that season – Between the 10th game and 70th – out of the 82 games (26.9 MP) he played that season for the Bulls.**
**”2nd best season” was with 6 times fouling out, and it was in the 2017-18 season with the Timberwolves – from the 16th game to the 61st = 61-16+1 games = a span of 46 games), a total of 82 GP as well (33.2 MP)**
34. **Taj Gibson wasn’t fouled out ONLY in the 2019-20 season (16.5 MP, 62 GP) – I went through all his game logs, of each season (Picking personal fouls as the top record to go by in the Basketball-Reference website)**
35. It’s only the 13th game this season Gafford had an assist (Out of 34 games).
36. Gafford had 2 assists tonight – it’s only the 3rd time this season Gafford gets 2 assists or more in one game (He had 3 on December 14th vs. the Nuggets & 2 vs. the Memphis Grizzlies on November 6th).
37. After 3straight games with three 3-pointers or more, Kevin Huerter failed to score 3+.
38. It’s the 10th game straight that Kevin Huerter scores one or more 3-pointer in each of his last 10 games, coming after 2 games in which he didn’t score any (0/6 & 0/5 vs. the Celtics & the Suns at the end of November).
39. Harrison Barnes scored 10+ points in his last 13 games (Including tonight’s 11 points).
40. Harrison Barnes is having his worst 3PT season, so far, with just 30.8% from 3PT (3.9 3PA) – his worst season was 34.7% from 3PT in the 2013-14 season (sophomore season), and he is averaging 37.6% from 3PT for his career.
**IT FINALLY FEELS GOOD WE HAVE A HEALTHY TEAM.**
**Deni can rest a bit, it’s okay even by me – it’s a long season, and he seemed to be exhausted in the last game – it’s hard chasing around the best players & also playing good offense**
Cheers & peace.
by MrBuckBuck
