Wizards' Wall hopes to avoid surgery on injured hand, wrist

John Wall says he won't have surgery on the fractured left hand and wrist that may have cost the Washington Wizards a legitimate chance at the Eastern Conference Finals.

"I'm going to (the) Cleveland (Clinic) to see a specialist," Wall told reporters at Wizards exit interviews on Monday. "But I'm still just doing a normal treatment routine. Just consists of a lot of treatment and trying to keep the swelling down and letting the bone heal on its own."

With a long offseason ahead, Wall hopes to avoid an invasive procedure.

Wall injured the hand in Game 1 against the Atlanta Hawks, and missed the next three contests - two of which the Wizards lost. Wall couldn't even dribble in practice with the injured appendage (his non-shooting hand) until last Tuesday, and he played in Game 5 a day later.

"I think if he played all the games, I think we'd still be in the season today," Wizards center Marcin Gortat said Monday.

Wall averaged 17.4 points and almost 12 assists in the postseason, including scoring 20 and dishing 13 dimes with the injured hand in Friday's elimination game. The point guard, who broke the same hand in high school, is still cursing fate.

"I'm not saying we would have finished this series undefeated," Wall said Monday. "But I feel like we had these guys on the ropes, even just being up 1-0. And we had the momentum. Things happened and we still had an opportunity to win Game 5. So it's devastating."