Wall has no plans for surgery; laments Wiz loss
WASHINGTON — Wizards point guard John Wall said he will not opt for surgery on his broken left hand/wrist.
Wall said he plans to take time off and let the five non-displaced fractures in his hand/wrist heal.
“I’m going to (the) Cleveland (Clinic) to see a specialist,” Wall said after the Wizards did exit interviews Monday. “But I’m still just doing a normal treatment routine (that) I was doing, like I was playing. Just consists of a lot of treatment and trying to keep the swelling down and letting the bone heal on its own.”
When asked if surgery was a possibility, Wall made it clear that he would not opt for surgery if possible. The All-Star suffered the injury late in the second quarter of the Wizards’ Game 1 win over Atlanta. He came crashing down on his left wrist while trying to avoid Jeff Teague on a breakaway.
Wall, who broke the same wrist in high school, missed Games 2, 3 and 4. The point guard returned for the final two games and played well despite his fractured hand/wrist. But Wall was unable to help the Wizards beat Atlanta in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Atlanta advanced to play Cleveland after winning the series 4-2. But Washington felt the outcome would have been different with a healthy Wall, who averaged 17.4 points, 11.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks in seven postseason games.
“Healthy John, healthy John,” Marcin Gortat said of what Washington needs next season. “That’s all we’re missing. I think if he played all the games, I think we’d still be in the season today.”
Bradley Beal said the loss to Atlanta was “discouraging because we feel like it shouldn’t have been that close.”
“In my opinion, we should have won 4-1,” Beal said. “We let a lot of games go down the stretch and they made some tough plays. (Al) Horford‘s game winner (in Game 5), Paul (Pierce‘s 3-pointer that) they took his away, that’s the series right there. It’s just a few plays here and there.”
“I definitely give Atlanta credit,” Beal added. “… But even if you beat me, I am a sore loser.”
Wall goes into the summer with a sore and fractured hand/wrist but he plans to take as long as it will take to let his bones heal.
“I just pray that I don’t have an injury,” Wall said of what it will take for the Wizards to get past the second round next year. “I feel like we would have been there. God has a plan with everything. But I feel like we were on the verge. We were playing the right way. We were one of the hottest teams. We were undefeated so far in the playoffs.
“I’m not saying we would have finished this series undefeated. But I feel like we had these guys on the ropes, even just being up 1-0. And we had the momentum. Things happened and we still had an opportunity to win Game 5 and come here and try to close it out. So it’s devastating.”
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