Five Stars: Man With the Golden Arm

Five Stars is a feature where we assign values to each player based on their performance in each game. Based largely on the GameScore metric, there is a small adjustment for plus-minus. Stars are awarded to each player, regardless of the team they suit up for. This article is for Miami’s 11-point home win against the Atlanta Hawks.

First Star

Wayne Ellington (MIA) 21.1

The Man with the Golden Arm had a defensive rebound, an assist, went one-for-one from the line, and drained six-of-seven three-point attempts for 19 points...all in the second quarter.

Ellington came off the bench and ended up playing 24 minutes in total, but outside of the second quarter, went 0-for-1 from two-point range, 0-for-1 from three-point range, went 1-for-1 from the line, pulled down an offensive rebound, dished out another assist, and stole the ball once. He finished with a game-high plus-15 rating.

My teammates have been unbelievable, looking for me and trying to get me the ball in my spots. Coach instills so much confidence in me, he said, I don’t care how many you miss, just keep letting it go. - Ellington

Second Star

Josh Richardson (MIA) 18.1

Richardson started at small forward from the Heat, and played a game-high 36 minutes. He also had a game-high 21 points, on eight-of-17 shooting. He made three-of-nine from beyond the arc, two-of-three from the stripe, pulled down four rebounds (one offensive), dished out two assists, stole the ball twice, and even collected a pair of rejections to finish with a game-second best plus-10 rating.

Third Star

John Collins (ATL) 14.9

Collins came off the bench for Atlanta for just 18 minutes, scoring 14 points with 11 rebounds (four offensive). He had a pair of helpers and a blocked shot, going six-of-11 from the field and two-for-two from the line. His even plus-minus rating was the second best mark on the Hawks (behind Marco Belinelli’s plus-3).

Fourth Star

Goran Dragic (MIA) 13.1

The Dragon started at the point and made seven-of-16 shots overall and two-of-five from deep. Going three-of-six from the foul line, he also dished out a game-best six dimes with a rebound, a steal, and a plus-3 rating in 32 minutes.

We feel like that when we’re gonna get better, we can hold on to those leads and it’s going to get even easier. Our defense was better tonight. - Dragic

Fifth Star

Kent Bazemore (ATL) 12.9

Bazemore, Atlanta’s starter at shooting guard, finished with a team-high-tying 20 points on six-for-17 shooting in 30 minutes. He made just one-of-four from outside and seven-of-10 from the foul line, with four rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a minus-7 rating.

Today’s Five Stars all had higher PER ratings than any player not listed in the Five Stars, which means the Five Stars were also the same five guys that played the best “per-minute.” Taurean Prince scored 20 points on nine-of-14 shooting with seven defensive rebounds, but turned the ball over seven times to sap his overall positive impact.

Peachtree Hoops has more on the Hawks. Next up for Miami, the San Antonio Spurs.

Five Stars Standings

Goran Dragic 12
Wayne Ellington 10
Hassan Whiteside 9
Josh Richardson 8
James Johnson 6
Kelly Olynyk 2