Bucks 142, Wizards 129
Q. I know that was a frustrating one because this game was tied going into the fourth. How did they turn it into their favor there in the fourth?
JORDAN POOLE: Just a long game. They executed down the stretch. Really good team, championship-level team. We did a really good job of fighting until the fourth quarter, kept ourselves in a position to win. We've just got to learn with the process, find ways to close games against really good teams.
Q. What was the collective effort trying to stop Giannis tonight?
JORDAN POOLE: I mean, just build a wall. Obviously we know he wants to get downhill, play physical, get to the cup, make him pick up the ball early, try to spray it, get to contest their shooters all around. But he's seen that coverage so many times. You've got to find ways to contain players like that.
Q. What happened with Beasley?
JORDAN POOLE: When, what part?
Q. It seemed like you were just trying to help Khris Middleton --
JORDAN POOLE: Yeah, just took a foul. He came and pushed me, called a tech, shot free throws, and I think they got a transition take called, so it was just regular basketball.
Q. Was it a good step for you to see the ball go in as much as it did tonight?
JORDAN POOLE: Yeah, it was just a matter of time, continue to be aggressive, still trying to get my shots on offense, still play off my teammates. A step in the right direction. We put up a really good fight against a championship-level team. It just shows what we're capable of when we're hitting on all cylinders, so just got to find a way to keep the recipe going.
Q. As experienced as you are, how do you remain patient with yourself and being with a new team and adjusting to a whole new everything, teammates, offense, all of it?
JORDAN POOLE: Yeah, perspective. Perspective. New team, young team, and I think we all know that we're trying to build a foundation. It doesn't happen in one month. It doesn't happen in 10 games. It doesn't happen in 12 games. It doesn't happen in one year. Learning process just day by day, try to get better. It may sound cliche, but that's what you've got to preach. Get better individually, get better as a team. But it'll work. It'll figure itself out as long as you stay diligent with the process, and everything will take care of itself.
Q. As a young guy but also a guy that's been around for a while, how do you balance being a vet to some of the younger guys like Bilal but also trying to learn from some of the older guys on the team?
JORDAN POOLE: We're just all really open with each other, ask questions, just have normal conversation, normal dialogue. Just trying to figure each other out as best we possibly can, on the court, off the court because it makes our chemistry better. We have a really good group of guys in terms of who they are as people, in terms of how hard they work, and how they want to get better.
Just continue to build with that each and every day. Unfortunately it wouldn't win games, but it's a really good process to be around guys that you're comfortable with and are all willing to learn and be bought into the situation that we're in, and it'll come.
Q. Wes has mentioned not specifically tonight but just over the course of the first few games of the season that you've been getting blitzed a lot on ball screens. What are you doing to try to -- are you trying to put yourself in situations where you're not getting blitzed as much or is it trying to come up with counters for those blitzes?
JORDAN POOLE: I don't think it's necessarily me not getting blitzed as much, but I'm seeing a lot of coverages, a lot of different coverages. It's honestly really cool. It makes you learn as a player, makes you grow, go back and watch film. In the New York game obviously three defenders and I drove to the basket. Guys were helping off the corner. It's really good for our team because we get to find ways to learn. We see it, we find ways to get counters. It's also good for Coach. Me and Coach have conversations to figure out how we can put our team in really good situations to use that as an advantage.
But like I said, it's all a learning process for our teammates, figuring out what spots to be in, when I'm getting blitzed, how they can get their shots when I'm getting blitzed, coverages are changing and we're learning on the fly. This is all stuff that we learned very early on in the process, and it'll really help us in the long run.
Q. When you have a productive night against a team, does it feel good to have another game coming up against the same team because you know how they're going to defend you, what they're going to throw at you?
JORDAN POOLE: I think what's really good about the league is we play so many games. You've got to have a short memory, good or bad. We've got another game Wednesday against Charlotte. So it just feels good to be able to go out there, do it all again, get to play, get some run, get to learn, get to try new actions. That's probably the best part about the league, and just figuring out as you're playing those teams, try to stay consistent with what you can and learn on the fly.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports