Written by Adam Fromal at Bleacher Report.com
With 23.5 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter Tuesday night, John Wall strode to the free-throw line and calmly knocked down a pair of freebies—his 10th and 11th of the night. As the second one ripped through the nylon, he set a new career high in points, having torched the overmatched Orlando Magic backcourt for 52 points, four rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
He’d shot a stellar 18-of-31 from the field and 5-of-8 from downtown, while his four turnovers were reasonable given how frequently he controlled the rock.
This was against a nondescript Magic outfit that was finishing a five-game trip away from the Sunshine State. It came in front of Wall’s hometown faithful at the Verizon Center. Surely, he could help steer the struggling Washington Wizards back on track.
Except Washington lost, 124-116.
John Wall dropped a career-high of 52 last night, the first 50-pt game for a Wizards player since Gilbert Arenas in 2007. pic.twitter.com/Hq7aN21SWS
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 7, 2016
The proceedings weren’t even as close as that final margin might indicate. The Wizards were badly outplayed, failing to slow down Elfrid Payton or any other member of the Orlando bench. They barely bothered to contest shots at times, looking far too disinterested for a squad that’s now won just seven games in 20 attempts.
After Wall and Bradley Beal, who finished with 19 points, Washington’s leading scorer was Markieff Morris, who dropped 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting. As a whole, the non-Wall members of the roster mustered just 64 points on 26-of-62 shooting (41.9 percent), and the point guard provided assists on eight of those buckets.
Yet again, he couldn’t get any support.
Wall is averaging 24.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 2.1 steals on the season. He’s shooting 45.9 percent from the field, 39.4 percent from downtown and 82.3 percent at the charity stripe—all career high-water marks.
He should be leading a playoff squad, especially because the pieces—on paper, at least—seem to fit around him: Beal should be a solid complementary scorer. Otto Porter is blossoming into an all-around stud who still has time to do the little things, and Morris spaces the floor. Marcin Gortat is even an ideal pick-and-roll partner.
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