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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gordon Hayward | 3/5 | 28 | 30(88.9%) | 7 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 15.8 |
| Kyrie Irving | 3/9 | 35 | 30(81.3%) | 7 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 14.3 |
| John Collins | 3/9 | 30 | 33(68.9%) | 20 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 14.1 |
| Trae Young | 3/9 | 29 | 23(54.7%) | 10 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10.6 |
| Mike Conley | 3/5 | 35 | 40(81.3%) | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 11.3 |
1. The reality is compared to previous week's this week's top score was a bit underwhelming. That said, Gordon Hayward seems to have returned to form, thirty points on efficient scoring and reasonable rebounding to go with a good passing night.
2. Speaking of top Celtics, Kyrie Irving also makes the list with a great 30 point, seven rebound game. I know it's en vogue to worry about Boston but I think come playoff time they'll be fine.
3. John Collins gets on the list for one of my favorites a 20-20. Bonus points for getting thirty points. One of the few bright spots for an otherwise abysmal Hawks.
4. Trae Young gets both the rookie spot and the triple-double spot of the list. I know I definitely was fine bashing him earlier in the year, especially next to Luka Doncic. That said, he's had a stellar second half of the season, and I'm excited to see where he ends up.
5. Mike Conley, who I believe is 1000 years old, had the best scoring night of the week. I've been saying Conley is beat up and over the hill for years now. One of these days I'll be right.
The Bottom Three Boxscores of the Week
| Player | Date | Minutes | PTS(TS%) | TRB | AST | TOV | STL | BLK | PF | PoP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donovan Mitchell | 3/4 | 35 | 19(38.2%) | 2 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -13.7 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 3/4 | 19 | 4(15.4%) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -13.3 |
| Kevin Durant | 3/5 | 31 | 18(44.1%) | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -13.2 |
1. Welcome back, Donovan Mitchell! The worst game of the week. Even with 24 shots and 2 free throws, he couldn't crack 20 points. I'll actually give some credit for nine assists, but his six turnovers. In a close loss to the Pelicans, Donovan Mitchell was twice as important to the Pelicans as Anthony Davis. That's saying something!
2. Dirk's farewell tour is going well, but I'm not sure how much he has left in the tank. In a mere 19 minutes, he did some major damage by missing 7 threes and going 2 for 13. We'll see if he's back next year.
3. Kevin Durant has been getting bashed this season despite playing very well. That said, he put up a stinker of a game against Boston. I suppose technically, he and Kyrie Irving are already teaming up to help an Eastern team win. Is that a sign of things to come?
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 | 7 | 26 |
| James Harden | 8 | 23 |
| Paul George | 6 | 19 |
| Nikola Jokic | 6 | 18 |
| Klay Thompson | 3 | 14 |
No movement on the list this week, but in case you forgot, here's how things stand. In exciting news, Donovan Mitchell takes sole possession of the top spot on the "bad list." With -8 points and four appearances, Mitchell is the leader of the bad boxscores list. No other player this year has more than three appearances, 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.