John Wall Is Proving He's NBA's Purest Point Guard
John Wall has a lot riding on Wednesday's Game 5 matchup with the Boston Celtics.
A win in that contest would give his Washington Wizards a massive 3-2 edge in the series, putting them just one home victory away from their first visit to the Eastern Conference Finals since 1979—more than 11 years before Wall was born.
This is a myth-making, career-defining moment for Wall, a player who's long occupied a strata of NBA stardom typically described with some version of the qualifier "he's great, but...".
There have always been several options available to finish that caveat.
He's great, but he can't shoot.
He's great, but he's never made it out of the second round.
He's great, but he's not on the level of Stephen Curry or Chris Paul or Russell Westbrook.
But what's most interesting about the stakes of Game 5 is that if Wall leads Washington to a win (And make no mistake, he'll have to lead; the Wizards can't get anything done without him dominating), he'll do it while validating his place as the game's great hybrid point guard.
No, he's not Curry or Paul or Westbrook. There's no disputing that.
But maybe he's got enough of all of them—Curry's creative flair, Paul's chessmaster control and Westbrook's athletic rabidity—to put himself on their level. And maybe that'll get him the big-stage success he's wanted, and the respect he's deserved.
"You're not getting any recognition as a point guard if you ain't winning," Wall told Sports Illustrated's Andrew Sharp way back in November.
As Wall keeps piling up wins and historical achievements, he's gotten some notice:
But if he gets more, it'll be because he keeps carrying Washington to victory with his modern, juiced-up equivalent of pure point guard play.
Because Westbrook and Paul, the two archetypal extremes, are out. Eliminated. Neither feral ferocity nor measured control were enough to keep the Oklahoma City Thunder or Los Angeles Clippers involved in the postseason proceedings.
In a way, this is moderation's moment.
Wall has averaged 27.8 points and 12.3 assists in four games against Boston so far, posting an on-court net rating of plus-8.7. When he's been on the bench, Washington has cratered, with Boston outscoring it by an obscene 23.7 points per 100 possessions.
Marrying Russ' raw speed with Paul's surgical passing, Wall has played the point with speed and precision that shouldn't be possible. He's been a terror in the open floor, snatching up steals and misses and turning them into unstoppable blitzing runouts.
When the Wizards rocketed to a 26-0 run in Game 4, he was the one slamming the pedal down, making high-velocity reads without blinking, seeing the other nine players somehow decelerate as he shifted into hyperdrive.
Wall effectively does 115 miles per hour in rush-hour traffic while completing a sudoku puzzle. In pen.
Thanks to equal parts CP3 and Westbrook bubbling around in his internal basketball chemistry, he's as likely to do this:
As this:
Paul sometimes affects an overly passive approach to make a point. Westbrook loses all sense of space and time when he puts his head down and attacks, narrowing his tunnel vision to the width of a keyhole.
There's a purer force dictating Wall's decisions.
He's hardwired to make the right play. It's just in him.
It's why he put up 40 points against the Celtics in Game 2 and, going back, blew up for 42 in closing out the Atlanta Hawks while also leading all postseason players in points created via the assist.
Maybe a win in Game 5 won't elevate Wall to elite status. Maybe he'll have to do more.
And, big picture, maybe he and his Wizards are only sprinting to the guillotine. The as-yet-unbeaten-in-the-playoffs Cleveland Cavaliers await, resting up for their next victims.
But there's been something special about the way Wall has led his team to this point, and if he takes it farther, more and more observers will come to appreciate his unique blend of skills.
Westbrook tried to rip the game board apart, scattering pieces everywhere and ultimately failing. Paul left the apparatus alone but sought out every weakness, bent every rule and tried to exert control. He didn't make it this far either (and if Wall advances, he'll have made it deeper into the postseason than CP3 ever has).
Wall has found a happy medium, tilting the game just a bit. Angling it downhill. He knows no one else can play at his speed without the world turning into a senseless blur. He creates the maelstrom because he alone can see clearly within it.
There's nobody like John Wall, and he gets a chance to show everyone what he is on Wednesday in the biggest game of his life.
Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference or NBA.com. Accurate through May 9.
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