John Wall’s shooting in the playoffs has badly been exposed since the first round of the playoffs, and things had gotten worse in the second round against the Indiana Pacers – the best defensive team during the regular season.
The point guard hasn’t been able to hit the side of a barn, averaging just 11.5 points on a paltry 31.3 percent from the field (16-of-51 shooting), including just one-of-11 from the 3-point line in the first four games. His production has been a major detriment to the offense of the Washington Wizards, and it has been a big reason why they were down 3-1 against the generally-struggling Pacers team despite having had their chances in at least a couple of those games. For at least one game, though, all of that changed. Wall hit a couple of shots and felt good about it in Game 5, so he kept letting it fly.
And kept hitting.
In the most important game of his career – the dreaded elimination game – Wall stepped it up and scored 27 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field, equaling the number of points he’d scored in the previous two games combined.
Wall was fantastically aggressive, but the hustle and rebounding of his team was just as impressive. Marcin Gortat was virtually everywhere, having a career night with 31 points on 13-of-15 shooting and a whopping 16 rebounds – all of them from the first three quarters. At one point in the second half, Gortat was single-handedly out-rebounding the entire Pacers lineup. Overall, Washington had an astounding 62-23 rebounding edge over Indiana in the 102-79 rout.
Most notably, players around the league recognized Wall’s breakout performance and had the following reactions:
John Wall is on fire
— Derrick Coleman (@44TheLegend) May 14, 2014
Big shout out to Sam cassell, can tell he’s been instrumental in John Wall’s development
— Anthony Morrow (@MrAnthonyMorrow) May 14, 2014
My guy @John_Wall ain’t ready to go home.. I know the feeling bra
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) May 14, 2014
My guy C-Webb in the 1st qtr went fr discussing how @john_wall will need 2 improve his J in the offseason – 2 not a peep abt it by the 4th.
— Rex Chapman (@rexchapman) May 14, 2014
Final Stats. What’s your take? pic.twitter.com/mNDCYYmLGg
— Chris Webber (@realchriswebber) May 14, 2014
Just watched John Wall put on a PG clinic w/ 27pts and Marcin Gortat put on a big man clinic w/ 31pts & 16rebs in the win over the Pacers.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 14, 2014
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James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.