John Wall: “I barely could see after I got hit in the eye”

When looking back on the Washington Wizards 63-point effort against the Indiana Pacers in Game 3, there are little to no excuses the young ball club can use. They struggled on offense as the Indiana Pacers looked like the team that began the season as one of the best in the league and the Bradley Beal-John Wall combo did little to lift their team. But here is some insight that may reveal why the team, mainly John Wall, struggled so much:

"To add to John Wall’s problems shooting the ball in this series with the Indiana Pacers, he now has an injury to his right eye. “I barely could see after I got hit in the eye,” he said. “I got a cut on my eye so I had to put contacts in to get the medicine to cover the cut.”It’s not visible. It’s actually on the eyeball and it caused excessive blinking. Wall said it bothered him since the third quarter and it was responsible for him missing 3 of 6 free throws.via Scratched eyeball complicates John Wall’s struggles | CSN Washington"

In the third quarter, the Wizards put up more shots (15) than points scored (12), easily their worst quarter of the postseason. Wall, who played every minute in the quarter, scored five points on 2-of-4 shooting and coughed up two turnovers. Marcin Gortat, Nene, and Bradley Beal made up for the other 7 points scored.

The worst thing the Wizards could do, beside losing home court advantage in the series as the Indiana Pacers took a 2-1 lead after Game 3, was give this Pacers team some confidence. They were smiling again, defending like the best team on that side of the ball, and didn’t look like a club amidst one of the biggest collapses in NBA history.

Now with John Wall injured, the Wizards chances of wining this series, let alone making it competitive, have decreased severely. With Game 4 being a pivotal moment, you have to hope the young guard can enter a give his team everything he has. If not the fourth-seeded Wizards will be facing elimination once they head back to Indy.