Player of the Game #4 (Spurs @ Wizards)

[FAH1223]

The tally so far

Brown 1x
Bryant 1x
Wagner 1x

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[WallToWall]

good shooting by everyone. Has to go to Beal for 14/24 shooting.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Got to give it to Beal for that beauty of a third with the entire bench as a close runner up, they gave great energy and 63 points.

[tontoz]

Easy call for Beal although i really liked what i saw from the other 3 guys.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Beal... then Ish the Dish

[payitforward]

We lose a lot of games where Brad plays the way he did last night -- i.e. it was, for him, only an average, or even just slightly below average, game. Brad's a terrific player, so it was a good game.

But, Ish had an outstanding game -- by any measure, but above all for him. Gotta make him player of the game!

[nate33]

We lose a lot of games where Brad plays the way he did last night -- i.e. it was, for him, only an average, or even just slightly below average, game. Brad's a terrific player, so it was a good game.

But, Ish had an outstanding game -- by any measure, but above all for him. Gotta make him player of the game!

I get this point. Ish was certainly more efficient than Beal, scoring roughly as much per minute on better efficiency with fewer turnovers. But I don't think POTG can always be determined by number crunching with the box score. The bottom line is that Beal is the focus of the opposition's defense every night, and he has the responsibility to be a dominant scorer and playmaker. That has a much greater degree of difficulty than what Ish is asked to do. Ish can afford to take what the defense gives him, attacking off-balance defenders and second stringers who are scrambling thanks to Beal's presence on the floor.

Basically, if Beal can score 30+ points on above-average efficiency as the center of defensive attention, he is going to be a strong contender for POTG in my book, no matter what any of his teammates do. I'm not going to downgrade Beal's contributions just because it's what he's supposed to do.

Ish had a great game no doubt. But if Beal wasn't there doing his thing, I don't think Ish would have looked so good.

[payitforward]

We lose a lot of games where Brad plays the way he did last night -- i.e. it was, for him, only an average, or even just slightly below average, game. Brad's a terrific player, so it was a good game.

But, Ish had an outstanding game -- by any measure, but above all for him. Gotta make him player of the game!

I get this point. Ish was certainly more efficient than Beal, scoring roughly as much per minute on better efficiency with fewer turnovers. But I don't think POTG can always be determined by number crunching with the box score. The bottom line is that Beal is the focus of the opposition's defense every night, and he has the responsibility to be a dominant scorer and playmaker. That has a much greater degree of difficulty than what Ish is asked to do. Ish can afford to take what the defense gives him, attacking off-balance defenders and second stringers who are scrambling thanks to Beal's presence on the floor.

Basically, if Beal can score 30+ points on above-average efficiency as the center of defensive attention, he is going to be a strong contender for POTG in my book, no matter what any of his teammates do. I'm not going to downgrade Beal's contributions just because it's what he's supposed to do.

Ish had a great game no doubt. But if Beal wasn't there doing his thing, I don't think Ish would have looked so good.

I don't disagree with any of this, nate -- not in the slightest.

I guess my point comes down to this: if a guy plays way, way above his norm & we win -- I enjoy seeing that guy getting the POTG award from us (along with, of course, all the fancy extra stuff that goes with this important award! ).

I think it would be fair to say that my point is not an important one!!

[queridiculo]

Beal... then Ish the Dish

You mean, "Ish Swish".