Season stats: 15.4 PPG, 4.9 RPG in 30.0 MPG; .449/.434/.894
Last 3 weeks: 19.4 PPG, 5.6 RPG in 33.7 MPG; .449/.426/.923
Davis Bertans went nuclear for about 2½ weeks in December, scoring a career-high 32 points in a loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Dec. 10 and draining 49.0 percent on 10.7 3-point attempts per game from Dec. 1-18 before cooling off.
Bertans was a combined 2-for-19 against the Raptors and 76ers on Dec. 20 and 21 before missing the last two games for the Washington Wizards with a quad injury.
The Latvian who came to the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs in 2016 after he was a second-round pick by the Indiana Pacers in 2011 was a fortuitous pickup by general manager Tommy Sheppard over the summer, coming to Washington as part of the sign-and-trade deal that sent DeMarre Carroll from the Brooklyn Nets to San Antonio.
Bertans was sixth in the NBA in 3-point shooting a season ago after spending much of the year in the top three before cooling off late.
His 43.4 percent mark this season ranks 12th in the league, while he is fourth with 105 makes and ninth with 242 attempts while only starting in four of his 28 appearances thus far. He caught fire as a scorer in December, scoring at least 20 points in six of his 11 games, including a six-game stretch from Dec. 1-10 during which he averaged 23.7 points per game.
The Wizards are having to rely on outscoring opponents, as they have an NBA-worst defensive rating, allowing 116.7 points per 100 possessions, and Bertans has been a big reason why they’ve been able to do so as often as they have so far.