This unreal John Wall sequence sent the Wizards to the second round
The momentum had swung in favor of the Hawks when John Wall saved the Wizards and sent Washington to the second round.
The Wizards held a double-digit lead for much of the second and third quarters in Friday's Game 6, but the Hawks steadily chipped away at Washington's lead, making it a one-possession game with just under nine minutes remaining after a Jose Calderon triple.
The NBA Is Finally Seeing The Real John Wall
Wall reentered the game at 8:37 and took over. After Bradley Beal made a bad pass directly to Dennis Schroder, Wall chased Schroder down the court and made a LeBron-in-Game-7-esque block. On the ensuing possession, he sliced through Atlanta's defense and converted an extraordinarily tough layup.
Here's the block followed by the layup:
Washington's lead never sunk below five points after that driving layup, and the Wizards ended up winning 115–99. If Wall doesn't make that block, it's a one-point game and the Wizards are staring at Game 7. Instead, Wall singlehandedly stopped Atlanta's rally, sending Washington to Game 1 of the conference semifinals against the Celtics on Sunday.
Wall scored the team's final 13 points on Friday, finishing the night with 42 points, eight assists and four steals. He scored 19 points in the fourth quarter while trash-talking Julio Jones. According to Basketball Reference, only three players since 1984 have tallied 40 points, eight assists and a victory in Game 6 or 7 of a playoff series: Michael Jordan, LeBron James and now John Wall.
John Wall is good.