MEMPHIS — John Wall stopped, grimaced, looked back and collapsed to the floor. As play continued on the other end of the court, Wall was flat on his back, tapping on his left shoulder and writhing in pain. Washington Wizards head athletic trainer Eric Waters rushed to his aid as Wall kicked out his right leg and covered his face with his right elbow.
When Wall finally got up with the help of Waters and headed to the locker room, hunched over and holding his left shoulder late in the second quarter at FedEx Forum, the Wizards could only assume the worst, since for much of the season, that’s been the only news that they have received. But concerns about how much time Wall would have to miss because of the shoulder strain didn’t last very long. Turned out, it would only be a few minutes.
The Post Sports Live crew discusses the Wizards’ gradual improvement and look ahead to a tough stretch of games that should be a good litmus test for the team’s newfound success.
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Wall emerged out of the locker room at halftime ready to play and even made a jumper to open to the third quarter. But getting Wall back was enough to help the Wizards avoid losing their third consecutive game, as the Memphis Grizzlies defeated them, 85-76.
The Wizards are now 6-6 since Wall returned from a stress injury in his left knee, but they have played the past two without rookie guard Bradley Beal, who sat again with a sprained right wrist. Beal said before the game that he would take as much as necessary for his wrist to heal. He played six games with the injury and added that “it hurts like heck.”
Wall had nine points, seven rebounds and six assists in just 23 minutes for the Wizards, who only had one player score in double figures. Nene led the team with 14 points while four other others — Martell Webster, Emeka Okafor, Kevin Seraphin and Jordan Crawford — each had eight. The Wizards have now lost seven consecutive games at FedEx Forum after winning the first ever game played in the arena on Nov. 3, 2004.
Memphis point guard Mike Conley led five Grizzlies in scoring with 18 points and center Marc Gasol had a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. All-star forward Zach Randolph was limited to just seven points.
The Grizzlies were coming off a 106-89 loss in Oklahoma City the night before and playing their first home game since trading leading scorer Rudy Gay to Toronto in a three-team deal that yielded Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye from Detroit and Ed Davis from the Raptors.
All three new players were available against the Wizards and Prince, a fixture in Detroit for the past 10 seasons, received a standing ovation from the Grizzlies fans and scored 14 points in his debut, connecting on two huge jumpers in the final three minutes.
The Wizards failed to score at least 80 points for the first time since Wall returned and they are averaging just 90.9 points in their past eight games. They had averaged 104.8 points in their first four games with Wall, going 3-1. They will conclude their three-game trip in San Antonio, where the Spurs have the league's best record and will welcome back Tim Duncan from an injury.
The Wizards opened the game missing their first five shots, with Nene and Webster both hitting the opposite side of the backboard on jumpers. But they quickly settled in and began connecting from all over and made 15 of their next 23 shot attempts. Crawford even pulled up from 27 feet to hit a deep three-pointer in front of a stunned Tony Allen.
Trevor Booker made a bank shot to put the Wizards ahead 34-25 with 10:23 left in the second period but the team would miss its next 11 attempts and the Grizzlies drew even at 34 when newly acquired forward Ed Davis made a free throw. The Wizards lost Wall during the scoreless drought, as he took a pass from Trevor Ariza, accelerated toward the basket and got hammered on his left arm by Davis as he attempted a runner in the lane. Wall bounced off Grizzlies guard Jerryd Bayless and fell to the ground.
Coach Randy Wittman didn’t even have much time to ponder the potential loss and quickly inserted Crawford. The Wizards would regain the lead when Nene made a reverse layup and Okafor hit a jumper. Nene added another jumper as the Wizards entered the locker room clinging to a 40-39 lead despite shooting 5 of 23 and scoring a season-low 10 points in the second period.
With Beal already, the Wizards were looking as if they would be without their intended starting backcourt. But Wall showed up at the start of the third quarter without any obvious complications and didn’t even grimace after a colliding on a drive. Wall sat the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter and returned with his team trailing 78-72. The Wizards didn’t have another push in them.
