Gerald Jermaine Wallace’s per game stat line for the month of March in 15 games: 7.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a 34.3% shooting percentage.
No, that isn’t a belated April Fools joke. Those are Crash’s actual stats. Worse, Wallace shot an abysmal 14.3% from three point land to go with the 34.3% overall from the field. Crash has never been a great shooter, but to put things in perspective, he is a 46.9% career shooter and still a 40.0% shooter for the season as a whole.
The more he’s tried, the worse he’s done. In 13 games in January, he shot 4.7 shots per game for 42.6% (26/61); then in February he shot 6.9 times per game for 39.8% (33/83). This past month, Wallace hoisted up 7.2 shots per game for the weak 34.3% (37/108).
As Devin has written, and Nets fans that have eyes have noticed, part of the shooting woes have nothing to do with shooting at all. Crash has gone through an inexplicable streak of missing layups, including St. Patrick’s Day against the Hawks, when he missed six of seven layups. Wallace, never one to make excuses for his poor play, had this to say after the loss: “Make a shot. A layup, something. Any f–ing thing. F—. Throw trash in a trash can. Anything. See anything go in.”
And the threes? In January, he was 30.8% (8/26) from beyond the arc, in February it was 33.3% (10/30). Then came March. Crash shot at least one three in all 15 March games but only converted in four of them, going 14.2% (5/35). Again, no one is expecting Wallace to be the second coming of Anthony Morrow, but something a little closer to his career average of 31.5% would be nice.
To be fair, Wallace did do a better job in March of getting to and converting from the foul line. In February the 6’7” forward went to the line only 1.75 times per game for a Dwight Howard-esque 47.6% (10/21). In March, he increased that to 2.7 trips per game for a 68.3% (28/41) rate. While that’s still below his career average of 71.9%, it is above his season average (65%) and a marked improvement from February.
Not to be lost in the putrid shooting month is Wallace’s solid 1.7 steals per game, 0.3 more than his season average and a good indicator of Crash’s continued indefatigable effort on the herringbone. Wallace and his hustle remain fan favorites, as evidenced by the reaction from commenters in February when we dared to posit that maybe, just maybe, the 2012 trade that brought him to Jersey was one of the worst in franchise history. Everbody loves Crash (#NBASitcoms), but it is also ok to point out that a three point shooting percentage in the teens might be criticism-worthy.
So on behalf of Gerald Wallace, goodbye March. You brought us Rand Paul’s #filiblizzard and the end of the Miami Heat’s win streak. But you also brought us one of Crash’s worst shooting months in his 12 year career. Good Riddance.
