John Wall Stats Plummet: Wizards Star Says He ‘Shouldn’t Have Played’

John Wall had the worst offensive performance of his entire career on Saturday night’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Wizards point guard and five-time All-Star scored 1 point.

Wall had missed the team’s previous game against the Hawks–a now-rare win for the team that sits at 9th place in the Eastern Conference–and says that he probably shouldn’t have played against the Cavaliers either because of a lingering bone bone spur issue in his left heel.

He told Candace Buckner of the Washington Post:

“I probably shouldn’t have played, that’s my fault. But you learn from your mistakes.”

When pressed about the bone spur, he said, “Some days it’s great. Some days it’s bad. It come and go. You know what I mean, you just got to monitor when it’s good & when it’s bad, don’t try to force the issue & play with that one because it’s kind of hard. You can’t run.”

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Wall Missed Every Shot He Attempted

Before the game, Wall was listed as questionable because of sickness–the bone spur was not mentioned though it was unclear whether the Wizards point guard would miss his second game in a row.

He did play, though he spectacularly missed every shot he attempted and finished with a single point for the first time in his near-decade of playing in the NBA. His one point came halfway through the third quarter, where he sunk the second of two free throw attempts. Wall would leave the floor before the end of that quarter, after putting in 26 nearly-scoreless minutes. His stats were as follows: 1 point, 0-5 shooting from the field, 3 misses from behind the arc, 6 assists and a minus-14.

When asked about the troubling stats, Wall already knew. “I didn’t have to look at it. I already knew it without looking at it. First game of my life, worst game of my life. One free throw. No field goals.”

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Other Wizards’ Stats Weren’t Enough

Though a few other Wizards had decent games for themselves in the loss, it wasn’t enough to pull the team over the Cavaliers. It’s a bit of a devastating loss–the Cavs are one of the single worst teams in the league right now; their post-LeBron struggles have turned them into a bit of a laughingstock. On top of that, the loss broke the Wizards’s promising three-game winning streak.

Wizards guard Bradley Beal made a good effort, though. He had 27 points on 12-for-25 shooting, and Otto Porter, Jr. contributed 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Jeff Green also had 17 off the bench.

The Wizards are now 11-15 as the season approaches its midpoint, and playoff hopes are all but gone for the franchise. It’s not impossible that they’d made it, it just doesn’t seem like any of them want to. The team was once again noticeably lethargic on-court, and it’s likely that management will be making some serious roster moves before the trade deadline in an effort to rebuild.

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