What’s up with the Washington Wizards, and to think, so many of us though John Wall was the problem over Bradley Beal.
The Wizards 5-year, $80 million man put on a performance for the ages — dropping a career-high 52 points on 18-for-31 shooting — 5 of 8 three-pointers and 11-for-14 from the foul line — while dishing eight assists, four rebounds and three steals.
That stat line still wasn’t enough, as Wall and Wizards still lost to the Orlando Magic 124-116.
Wall — who is averaging 24.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 2.1 steals on the season — was the only Wizards player who showed up during the game, and afterwards.
“Our job is to wake up and just play hard. Before you made it to the NBA or got a college scholarship, you played hard every day to get to where you wanted to,” said Wall, who had surgeries to both knees May 5. “To still be talking about playing hard, that’s something that you should be able to do after just waking up. Everybody has a job and they have to go work hard. Our job is to come here and play hard and compete. That’s the easiest thing that you should do without any contracts or any money, just come in and play basketball … if I had the answer we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
According to CSN MidAtlantic — Wall exited the arena an hour after his teammates had cleared out and he was told that he was the only Wizards player to talk postgame upon request.
“Just me?” Wall asked while still managing to smile. “Just doing my job.”
Flip The Page To See Wall address the media, and for video of his career high 52 points: