New York Knicks 120, Washington Wizards 99
Q. The second quarter you guys got a spark and you started to cut into that lead but then what was happening? What did you notice that was the biggest issue of why you couldn't close out the game?
WES UNSELD, JR.: I thought our energy and intent picked up. I think that's why we climbed back in and I thought it was overall a great effort. You know, fourth quarter, missed some good looks. Missed some opportunities. You know, but I like the fact that they are competitive. They are competing. They are trying to play the right way. Ball is not bouncing in our direction. I think that adds to some of the frustration.
So I have got to help try to figure out to get something easy. You know, very good defensive team. I'm not taking anything way from New York. They are an elite level defensive team for a reason, and they are going to make life tough but we've got to kind a way collectively to find some easier looks for our guys.
Q. What made Brunson and Quickley so difficult to stop tonight?
WES UNSELD, JR.: They are both really good offensive players. Capable of scoring on all three levels. Off the bounce, to the rim, very shifty. We had some good stretches guarding those two. But they put a lot of pressure on you from top to bottom.
Q. Corey has talked a lot about trying to take more threes, the three attempts from three-point range tonight what can he do to generate more volume?
WES UNSELD, JR.: Well, a lot of the volume we saw early was in transition. And you know, we take the ball out of the net, it's tough to generate that dynamic where he can hunt those threes early in the possession.
He also understands that teams know his strength and they are going to take him off his strength. They are going to him off the line and make him play off the bounce. That's just part of the evolution for him is how do you find solutions with various coverages, because that's a strength of his teams are going to try to negate.
Q. How do you get Jordan Poole going?
WES UNSELD, JR.: Like I said, I have to find ways to maybe take some pressure off. They blitzed him-little bit tonight. Teams were really physical with him and to his credit, he keeps working. He puts a ton of work in his shot.
So I think it's just, you know, a matter of time before he breaks, and he has not seen result thus far. That's where we as a group have to find ways to make it easy for him.
Q. What's your sense of how he's dealing with not playing up to what he wants to play in terms of frustration?
WES UNSELD, JR.: I'm sure he's frustrated. Who wouldn't be? But that's probably a question for him. You could see it. You can see it because he wants it so bad and he cares. He puts in more than enough time. To his credit, you want to feel that what you're doing is going to get the pay off.
Q. Even though it wasn't enough for a complete come back effort, did you like the fight from the team the second half, especially in the third quarter?
WES UNSELD, JR.: It did. I think that was great and that's something that we can kind of lean in on. We give ourselves a chance. Compete and fight that way every night for as close to 40 as possible; we'll find ourselves to be in pretty good position to be in the game toward the end, whether we make shots or not.
I thought defense picked up. The intensity picked up. I thought our bench was great. Even down 20, Kuz was vocal and talking to guys and he's encouraging the guys. That's a positive sign. You can still kind of feel these guys, they pure into each other.
So no, it's not fun to be where they are but to their credit, they are going to keep fighting.
Q. I know Deni had four fouls late. Was there a deeper reason why he stayed on the bench towards the end?
WES UNSELD, JR.: No. Just that group we had. Once the game got out of hand, no sense in bringing them back.
Q. Okay. So first off, I just want to say, good evening, coach. Obviously this was a tough loss but I have to say, this team fought very valiantly almost from start to finish, although a lot of points where there were obviously struggles. I did notice there were periods in which the team was clicking especially after the time-outs. What do you think happened this in that huddle that snapped the team out of the slump to to speak during those periods?
WES UNSELD, JR.: Some of it is they rallied around each other. Certain individual struggles, there's certain struggles. You know, and how do you kind of work through it. You can feel sorry for yourself. You can say, well, this is not my night, or, let's find a way to dig ourselves out. That was the mindset the whole game.
So we didn't make shots. You're frustrated maybe with some calls. That's going to happen. But I didn't feel that the group got do you know on itself. So they were trying to uplift Jordan, tough night from the field, and keep pushing. To their credit. That's what really turned.
Q. If I may, I also wanted to ask, how much do you think the struggles on the offensive end of the paint, how much weight do you think that had on the team's struggles tonight?
WES UNSELD, JR.: Well, like I said, credit to New York. They are an elite level overall defensive team. They are top in the league as far as protecting the paint. They do a terrific job of making sure you value each possession because they are not going to give you second-chance points. They are going to force you into some turnovers and they are not going to give you anything easy. That combination, of course, puts a lot of stress on every single possession you have the ball.
So you know, it's just one of those nights where we did some good things against a really good team, but I like the spirit and fight of the group.
Q. In the fourth quarter, seven minutes without a bucket, what were you struggling with there?
WES UNSELD, JR.: Some of it was you miss decent looks, I think we got a little sideways with some of the non- calls, but we have to continue to play with that tempo. You know, it takes a lot of starch out of you. You're playing a very physical team, a very aggressive team, to play at that tempo late in the fourth quarter, I think that's something that we can kind of look at.
But the sooner we can initiate the offense, I think the better. If we are slowing down a bit, that's probably to the going to be good for us.
Q. With Deni, what are you looking at when you don't have a traditional one-guard ball handler out there?
WES UNSELD, JR.: He's shown the ability to initiate offense and get us organized. Plus he's big enough to handle pick-and-rolls and see over the top of defense. We put the ball in Bilal's hands and I thought that was a good stretch for us, as well.
Credit to him, playing small pick-and-rolls, getting downhill, getting to the rim. That's a bright spot for him to continue to add a little bit more of the play-making, ball handling duties as we go.
Q. Speaking of Bilal, but in terms of his read off the dribble hand off, how he would even go downhill and find a shooter in the corner, can you talk about his knowledge in terms of when to be aggressive and when to pass the ball?
WES UNSELD, JR.: That's something we talked about from day one is we need to you play downhill. We have full faith he's going to make the right read once he get down and finds the advantage. But that mindset, whether teams go under, they try to bottle him up, I think he's got the ability to put pressure on the paint for us and that's going to up up threes and that's going to get him to the free throw line. It's going to open up cutting and drop-offs to our bigs.
Yeah, as we add to test him and see where he's at, it great to see him take on more and more of that responsibility.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports