John Wall shines, blocks two shots in one possession as Wizards hammer Grizzlies
The Washington Wizards have been scuffling of late, and their All-Star point guard, John Wall, has been feeling the pain of carrying his club throughout the first four months of the season.
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“Everything,” Wall said when asked recently what was hurting him, according to Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. “I can’t even name a specific thing, to be honest with you.”
Whatever his ailments, the former No. 1 overall pick looked more like himself in the Wizards’ Monday blowout of the Charlotte Hornets, and he carried that form over to Thursday’s nationally televised matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies, in which the hiccup-quick and long-limbed lead guard made his presence felt not only on the offensive end, but when the Grizzlies had the ball, too:
It’s pretty cool when your point guard can make up for committing a turnover by racing back in transition, blocking a layup attempt by Grizzlies big man JaMychal Green, and then recovering out to the short corner to block a 3-point attempt by Courtney Lee, all in the space of 11 seconds.
Following Wednesday’s bowling trip at the White House, the Wizards looked refreshed and on-point in taking on the short-handed Grizzlies, with Wall in particular looking like a new man. He was everywhere in the early going, flying all over the floor, generating offense for himself and his teammates while also making life miserable on Grizzlies guards like Lee, Beno Udrih and Nick Calathes.
Wall showed a little bit of everything on Thursday night, using his handles and his midrange jumper to beat the first-quarter buzzer and keep Washington within hailing distance after the Grizzlies’ makeshift lineup raced out to a hot start:
He used his quickness and dexterity to, it seems, freeze time and space en route to this making-something-hard-look-easy fast-break layup:
He also showed his physicality and toughness, finishing through contact for an and-one:
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Wall provided a little bit of everything on Thursday night, scoring 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting to go with seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and one steal in just 30 minutes — 5 1/2 minutes below his season average, which can only help the fatigue issue — as the Wizards cruised to a 107-87 win.
With Wall orchestrating, center Marcin Gortat (22 points on 10-for-16 shooting, nine rebounds, three blocks, three steals, two assists) taking full advantage of the absence of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph on the interior, and veteran forward Paul Pierce (17 points, 6-for-7 shooting, 3-for-4 from 3-point land) spacing the floor, Washington blew away an undermanned Grizzlies squad with a 34-14 second quarter and never looked back, winning for the third time in four games to improve to 37-28 and drawing them within 1 1/2 games of the struggling Toronto Raptors for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The outcome here wasn’t necessarily a surprise for Dave Joerger’s Grizzlies, who took something of a “lose the battle, win the war” approach in resting All-Star center Marc Gasol, star power forward Zach Randolph, ace point guard Mike Conley and perimeter stopper Tony Allen on the second night of a road back-to-back (which was also Memphis’ fifth game in seven nights and 12th in the last 19 evenings). And yet, one would suspect Joerger didn’t think it would look quite as bad as this early turnover by Memphis rookie Jarnell Stokes, who seems to have seen a ghost in a Grizzlies jersey calling for a pass:
Memphis didn’t have the exclusive rights to rough plays, though. Check out sophomore Wizard Otto Porter’s failed attempt at a fast-break finish, long after the game had been decided:
Pierce clearly couldn’t believe that Otto couldn’t throw that down; I think his immediate response might have been, “SHAQTIN’ A FOOL!”
Oh, well. At least it’s not as bad as the last thing that made us all pay attention to Otto, and at least it came in a handy Wizards win, and at least — and most importantly — it came in a game where Wall looked every bit as good as Otto just looked … well … less than that.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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