For the first time in the 2020-21 season, John Wall played in both ends of a back-to-back sequence of games for the Houston Rockets. Head coach Stephen Silas said prior to Monday’s home game versus Cleveland that Wall would be in his usual spot as starting point guard.
A 6-foot-4 guard in his 10th NBA campaign, Wall had sat out at least half of all previous back-to-backs this year as part of a planned maintenance program. Now 30 years old, Wall missed most of the past two seasons due to an assortment of foot injuries, including a torn Achilles.
But the five-time All-Star has said in recent weeks that he feels strong, and the team appears willing to give him this opportunity.
Regarding Wall’s status, here’s what Silas said pregame:
We talked about it a few days ago. He said his body is feeling good, and he wanted to give it a try.
We talked to the performance team, and obviously the minutes last night [27] were a little lower than usual. But we had planned it, prior to that, that if he felt good after game one, then he would play game two. That’s encouraging.
It’s encouraging for our group, it’s encouraging for him, and it’s encouraging, obviously, for me to have him out there, both games. It gives us a better shot to win.
As far as moving forward, we’re going to take a look at that over the [All-Star] break. But for him to play these two games, it does kind of push it in the right direction, as far as him playing both games of a back-to-back. But the fact that there are 10 of them in the second half of the season… probably not all, but some.
Wall is averaging 19.9 points and 6.1 assists in 30.9 minutes per game this season, which is his first in Houston. His minutes on Monday helped fill the void of veteran backcourt mate Eric Gordon, who sat out on the second night of the back-to-back with left knee soreness.
