What is NBA game score?

The game score calculator will help you in quantifying your favorite basketball player's performance. It is a version parallel to the player efficiency rating (PER) but much easier to calculate. The game score in basketball depends only on the actions by an individual player and their scores during the game. The game score formula depends on factors like field goals, blocks, rebounds, free throws, etc. Each component has a weightage factor associated with it.

Next up is the definition and formula used in this NBA game score calculator. And if the constant talk about field goals makes you worry about your personal goals, time to head over to our savings goal calculator!

A basketball game score, first coined by John Hollinger, is a simplified version of player efficiency rating (PER) and is a means for basketball analytics. The player efficiency rating (PER) make adjustments to the initial rating based on team's pace and performance as well as league average. However, the game score formula is based only on individual performance and it adds and subtracts the components of a player's performance in a basketball game. The components with positive weightage are:

• Points scored ($\text{P}$);
• Field goals made ($\text{FG}$);
• Free throws scored ($\text{FT}$);
• Offensive rebounds ($\text{OR}$);
• Defensive rebounds ($\text{DR}$);
• Steals ($\text{S}$);
• Assists ($\text{A}$); and
• Blocked shots ($\text{B}$) or blocks.

The above components are added to estimate the game score, whereas the factors with negative weightage are subtracted. The components with negative weightage are:

• Field goal attempts ($\text{FGA}$);
• Free throws attempts ($\text{FTA}$);
• Personal fouls ($\text{PF}$); and
• Turnovers ($\text{T}$).

The formula for games score $\text{GS}$ is:

$$\begin{gathered} \text{GS}=\text{P}+0.4\text{FG}-0.7\text{FGA} \\ -0.4(\text{FTA}-\text{FT})+0.7\text{OR}+0.3\text{DR} \\ +S+0.7\text{A}+0.7\text{B}-0.4\text{PF}-\text{T} \end{gathered}$$

The above formula returns a single number that is comparable with other players in history. A score of 10 is considered an average performance, whereas a score of 40 or higher is extraordinary. The score is for individual games, but it is often averaged across the season to determine the season-wide rating. For full weights of individual components of games score, you can refer to the table below:

To calculate the game score:

Enter the following data for the player:

1. Field goal (FG);
2. Field goal attempts (FGA);
3. Points scored (P);
4. Free throws (FT);
5. Free throw attempts (FTA);
6. Assists (A);
7. Blocks (BS);
8. Steals (S);
9. Turnovers (T);
10. Defensive rebounds (DR);
11. Offensive rebounds (OR); and
12. Personal fouls (PF).
13. The NBA game score calculator will update the game score as you start entering the individual statistics.

Consider a game in which player A made 18 points, 7 field goals, 11 field goal attempts, 6 free throws, 17 free throw attempts, and 15 assists while conceding 7 personal fouls and 3 turnovers. Calculate the game score for the player.

To calculate the game score, enter the following data in the calculator:

1. Field goals as 7;
2. Field goal attempts as 11;
3. Points scored as 18;
4. Free throws as 6;
5. Free throw attempts as 17;
6. Assists as 15;
7. Personal fouls as 7;
8. Turnovers as 3.
9. Using the game score formula:

$$\begin{gathered} GS=18+0.4\times 7-0.7\times 11 \\ -0.4(17-6)+0.7\times 15 \\ -0.4\times 7-3=13.4 \end{gathered}$$

Game score is a metric in basketball to estimate the performance of players in particular games. The game score relies on individual contribution rather than the team's performance. The score is often averaged for several games to estimate the season-wide game score.

The game score metric gives a number that could be anything between 0 to 40 or even higher. If a player manages 10 on the game score, they are considered average and extraordinary at 40 or higher.

There are two kinds of factors that affect a player's game score — positive and negative. The positive factors include scoring a field goal, free throws, assists, steals, blocks, and rebounds whereas losing the possession with turnovers, or causing fouls results in reduction of the game score.

The honor of having the highest all-time game score belongs to Michael Jordan, who is also a hall of famer. He achieved a game score of 64.6 while playing for Chicago Bulls against the Cleveland Cavaliers on 28th of March 1990. Here is the list of the top 5 all-time high game scores.