WASHINGTON — John Wall did it again.
Facing the Sixers for the third time this season, Wall scored 37 points with seven assists and four rebounds in the Wizards' 116-108 win Monday night (see game story).
This is a follow-up from Friday’s win in Philadelphia in which he posted a double-double with 23 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. In the first meeting earlier this month, he recorded an 18-point, 10-assist, 13-rebound triple-double.
“He’s a one-of-a-kind player,” Nerlens Noel said after the game. “His speed is unparalleled. The way he is able to get up the floor and find other teammates, it makes it tough on the transition defense of any team.”
The Sixers mapped out a game plan against Wall to start the game. His speed has been a focal point each time they have faced him, and Monday was no different.
“You have to show John Wall a crowd,” Brett Brown said before the game. “I look at Russell Westbrook and John Wall and they just are elite at putting pressure on the rim in the first two, three seconds. So we have to get back, and that’s way more than just the person guarding John, that’s the entire team. I hope that in transition defense, that everybody understands that that’s our first goal.”
Wall scored 12 points in the first quarter. He posted just four in the second and five in the third before a 16-point outburst in the fourth. He scored half of the Wizards' points during their 16-0 fourth quarter run. Wall finished the game shooting 13 for 26 from the field, 2 for 4 from three and 9 for 12 from the line in 42 minutes.
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“I think as I’ve watched him sort of grow his game, you respect the fact that people back up. They back up because of his speed and he’s been able to really make a reliable jump shot,” Brown said.
“I think that his physical approach on attacking the rim and taking a hit and still having the body control and toughness to finish and get and-ones is remarkable. That is a physical, big guard. It’s Russell Westbrook-type. He’s just very gifted.”
This was Wall’s fourth game of the season recording 35-plus points and seven-plus assists. He joins Stephen Curry, James Harden and Westbrook as the only NBA players to record that stat line four or more times this season.
The Sixers will get one more chance to try to limit Wall this season. The Wizards return to Philadelphia on March 17.