Through his first 12 games with the Houston Rockets, John Wall is shooting a career-high clip of 37.3% on 3-pointers. In his last three outings, the five-time NBA All-Star is connecting on 61.1% of his long-range shots — and on high volume, too, at 6.0 attempts per game.
Not surprisingly, the Rockets (10-9) have won all three of those games as part of a season-long winning streak of six games (and counting).
Now 30 years old, the 6-foot-4 point guard says there’s a relatively simple explanation for his growth as a shooter: He’s healthy.
When Wall was asked about the recent shooting surge following Monday’s blowout victory at Oklahoma City, he explained:
For one, I finally can jump. People don’t understand, and I can’t wait to tell my story of the two bone spurs I played with, the one in my knee and the one in my heel. You see those and you’d be like, ‘There’s no way this guy played basketball the last couple years and he was an All-Star.’ So, it’s just all a testimony to all the hard work and dedication I put into my game, working with my trainer Alex McLean, he did a great job of pushing me, working with me every day.
I told him, ‘I know how to finish at the rim, I know how to get to the basket, but let’s work on shooting off the dribble, let’s work on catch-shoot, a lot of 3s.’ In due time, it’s going to pay off. A lot of guys are still going under screens against me. They help a lot when I’m spotted up. I know how much work I put in. It’s going to be nice when I make a lot.
Wall elaborated on the bone spurs in his heel and knee, along with several other health issues, during an April 2020 episode of the All the Smoke podcast with former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.
As for the 2020-21 season, Wall is averaging 17.8 points and 5.8 assists in 29.9 minutes per game in Houston. That minutes total is the lowest of his NBA career, which could help him stay fresh over the long season.
