Wrist Factors: Can We Honestly Expect to See John Wall Play Soon?

By Anthony McCree II

I'm very proud of the Wizards this playoff, I think they play with a poise and a confidence we haven't seen from them in quite sometime, even last year was different from this year, in 2014 they played like wanted to prove they "belonged", in 2015, they play like they know they belong.

They won the first 5 games they played this playoff, sweeping the Raptors, and going up 1-0 against the one seed Atlanta Hawks. They even made history in the process, winning 4 straight game 1's on the road...never been done until them. They had been playing with the consistency that you see from championship teams, not just good teams, they were getting stops when they needed them, and hitting shots when they needed to, when you get up on them, they fight back, when they get up, they generally stay up, these are the things I mean.

Of course, Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, in the East are tough outs, but the Wizards are good enough when healthy to play with anyone I believe...thing is...they no longer have health on their side.

John Wall, is unlikely to play again in game 3 with non-displaced fractures in his left wrist and hand. They say he could play, if swelling comes down and pain could be tolerated and things of that nature, but I just don't see it being worth the risk.

I know it's Wall's decision to make, but it greatly risk long term effectiveness for a short term goal. It's said that his injury can take 6-8 weeks to heal, if he plays and it got worse, or the fractures become displaced, your talking a process that can take much longer, and be much more difficult to heal.

Pro Athletes often tend to heal quicker than the average person, but even so, logic tells you if he plays before the six week mark, it would be the NBA Finals, where reward can possibly be equal to risk.

John's injury happened May 3rd and was diagnosed on May 4th, even if they were to end up in a seven game series with Atlanta and won it... they would still only be about 2 weeks into the healing process (game 7 is scheduled for May 18th if needed)  with a few days of rest before facing either Cleveland or Chicago.

That just wouldn't be a good situation for John or the Wizards as a franchise, most likely, he'd be forced to at least miss the Eastern Conference Final despite his hunger to play. I want to see John Wall play, you want to see John Wall play, John Wall....wants to see John Wall play...but at what risk?

The Wizards still have a a very good team even without Wall on the court, Game 2 is a good indication of that, they lost the game by 16 but it was one of those games that was "closer than the score indicated".

If they can clean some things up, mainly, turnovers leading to easy buckets and open 3 pointers for Atlanta, they can still do this. Can they win this series or next without Wall? Will we see John Wall again in the Playoff at all?

We'll just have to wait and see I guess...