Welcome to the Boxscores of the week! Every week I run down my picks of the five top boxscores of the week. For good measure, I also look at the bottom three. While production -- we use the Points Over Par metric -- does play a role in who I select, I also allow some subjectivity into my selection. With that in mind, here are our lists!
The Top Five Boxscores of the Week
| Player | Date | Minutes | PTS(TS%) | TRB | AST | TOV | STL | BLK | PF | PoP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bojan Bogdanovic | 3/24 | 26 | 35(98.5%) | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| James Harden | 3/22 | 37 | 61(73.5%) | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 17.8 |
| Damian Lillard | 3/20 | 30 | 33(73.7%) | 5 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16.3 |
| JaVale McGee | 3/22 | 35 | 33(71.5%) | 20 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 15.4 |
| Luka Doncic | 3/23 | 27 | 23(61%) | 11 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
1. In a shocker Bojan takes the top boxscore of the week! The Nuggets didn't get to rest as the top seed out West as the Pacers shellacked them behind Bojan's amazing scoring performance. He didn't do anything wrong (0 turnovers and 0 fouls), and tacked on six rebounds, a steal, and three assists. Amazing job as the number two entry I thought was a lock for the top of the list.
2. There have been 18 50 point games this season, eight of those are James Harden. He put up a clinic against the Spurs with the highest scoring game of the season (well, tied with himself). He actually was uncharacteristically sparse on assists (he's averaging 7.5 per game) but we'll forgive him.
3. Damian Lillard makes the list for a 12-1 assist to turnover ratio and, oh yeah, 33 points on amazing shooting. This guy is pretty good I hear.
4. Oh all the Lakers I'd have expected a 33 point 20 rebound game, JaVale McGee was not one of them. Oh yeah, he also racked up six blocks. So ... wow.
5. Luka Doncic checks a few boxes for his spot. He had the best triple-double of the week. He had the best rookie game of the week. He helped down the Golden State Warriors (by a ton!) and that briefly, briefly put the Nuggets in the top spot out west. He hopped a few names but he earned this spot.
The Bottom Three Boxscores of the Week
| Player | Date | Minutes | PTS(TS%) | TRB | AST | TOV | STL | BLK | PF | PoP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julius Randle | 3/20 | 22 | 6(26.8%) | 3 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -16 |
| Kadeem Allen | 3/18 | 26 | 0(0%) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -14 |
| Myles Turner | 3/21 | 24 | 4(20%) | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -11.1 |
1. Here's a good metric, you shouldn't have as many points as turnovers. Randle did just that for the worst worst game of the night.
2. Kadeem went 0-8 and got a 1-3 assist to turnover ratio. At least he also got an assist and steal too.
3. Myles Turner actually got six boards, so he's got that going for him. In spite of this horrible performance, the Nuggets still got crushed. Oh well.
Leaderboard Update
Reminder, I'm using an MVP voting scheme for, well, no reason in particular. So the best boxscore of the week gets 5 points, 2nd best 4, etc. For the bad boxscores, I'm doing -3,-2,-1. Here's an update of how things look.
| Player | List Appearances | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | 8 | 31 |
| James Harden | 9 | 27 |
| Paul George | 6 | 19 |
| Nikola Jokic | 6 | 18 |
| Klay Thompson | 3 | 14 |
The only major change is James Harden is now within striking distance of Giannis! Much like the real MVP race, Harden's impressive accolades are making the end of this season interesting. No movement on "the bad list" but there's still time.
Alright, those are our lists. As always, let us know in the comments or on Twitter if you have any suggestions. You can also let us know if our selections were wrong, but it's too late to change things now! See you next week!
* Reminder, the Points over Par metric is just the Wins Produced formula translated into point margin. The way to think of it is -- how many points would a team win (or lose) by with our player's performance if they played next to an average team against an average opponent.