After Game 5 return, John Wall likely to remain on court for Wizards

Wonder and what if should be over. John Wall’s ambitious 37:27 on the floor in Game 5 made it clear his injured left hand can handle a game. After playing for the first time in 10 days, Wall said Wednesday night he felt good after the game. That is among the few pieces of positive news for the Washington Wizards, who trail the Atlanta Hawks, 3-2, in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.

Wall said he knew Tuesday that playing in Wednesday’s Game 5 was likely. Wizards coach Randy Wittman sat in on a pregame meeting between Wall and doctors after Wall warmed up about an hour prior to tipoff. Wittman accepted what he was told, and left the decision to Wall, who has five fractures in his left hand and wrist.

“He said if you feel comfortable, make the last call,” Wall said after the Wizards’ 82-81 last-second loss in Game 5.

Wittman said early Thursday afternoon that Wall had not yet been looked at again by doctors. Though, he thinks it is likely Wall will be ready for Friday’s Game 6.

“So far, so good,” Wittman said. “After the game, everything looked good in terms of no swelling. That was a good sign. Right now, yeah, I’m anticipating that he’ll be able to play.”

Wall finished with 15 points, seven assists, four rebounds and six turnovers. The last number was in line with a night-long plague for both teams. The Hawks and Wizards combined for 42 turnovers. Washington had 19, which Wittman pointed to after the game and against Thursday on conference call with reporters as the biggest culprit in the loss.

He also saw nothing new when rewatching the final scoring play. According to Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer, Hawks center Al Horford was supposed to set a screen on the wing for Kyle Korver to provide a driving Dennis Schroder, who had his shot blocked by Wall, another option. Power forward Paul Millsap was sent to the lane in case of a miss. He was boxed out by Nene and both tumbled to the ground. Briefly, Nene had his hands on the ball while falling backward before Horford, who said afterward he wasn’t even supposed to be in on the rebound, swooped in to take it away. With seven players either on the floor or banged out of the play, Horford had an easy putback to give the lead back to Atlanta with 1.9 seconds to play.

“I thought John made a great play on the ball,” Wittman said. “Then you had a melee of basically eight guys going to the board. Al’s the one that came down with it. That’s basically what happened.”

Horford’s short shot saddled the Wizards with long odds. Entering this postseason, teams with a 3-2 series lead are 232-40 (.853) all time. If they have home-court advantage, they are 158-14 (.919).

The Wizards have won on a buzzer-beater. The Hawks have won with a last-second play. Wall missed the middle three games of the series and should be able to play the final two, if there are two. Otherwise, the Wizards will be sent into the summer for the second consecutive season by a top seed they felt they could beat.

“We’re down 3-2, coming home and we have to worry about one game,” Wittman said. “We know what we have to do to beat the team. It’s just now a matter of going out and being the most consistent team.”