Magic 127, Wizards 119
Q. You guys shot pretty well, but the 21 turnovers, how big of a factor were those?
WES UNSELD JR.: Well, I think that's huge. We talked about that pregame, that that's their -- they're very handsy and aggressive, they're high in deflections and steals, and those were costly, led to a lot of their transition opportunities.
But some controllable, some I'll give credit to the defense. But we've got to get that number down for sure.
Q. What do you think led to Anthony Black having the offensive night that he did?
WES UNSELD JR.: He got some open looks early. I think in transition we weren't communicating as well as possible. He was able to get to the corner. I think you saw his first corner three go in, and guys are going to have nights like that. He's a good player. I know he's a young player, but that's a quality possession. When you see the ball go in, you feel pretty good about it.
Q. What did you see defensively as you guys were trying to close that out after making a nice run in the fourth?
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, to your point, we were down 17 with about 6:20 to play, cut it to a two-possession game with two minutes left, to give ourselves a chance. I'm proud of the fight. It's one of those nights where you could easily just say, you know what, we don't have it, we'll play tomorrow, and give in. So they didn't let go of the rope, which that's important. They keep pushing and fighting.
Yeah, we gave ourselves a chance there, but obviously the turnovers, offensive rebounds -- not a ton, 7 for 17, and obviously the paint defense, some of that being transition, but the one-on-one containment, pick-and-rolls, we've got to tighten that up.
Q. When you talked about not letting go, I think at one point in the second quarter Jordan looked so frustrated he walked off the bench and took a moment to himself. To come back and have 18 points in the fourth, what did you see that he was able to regain control of?
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, I think we were making some stops, which allowed us to get out and run. I know we talked about that as something all season that's been vital to us playing at a high level. We had a string of stops there. I think it was an 11-0 run, and that obviously got us back in the game.
Being able to defend, rebound and finish those possessions allowed us to kind of walk them down a bit.
Q. How about the way he seemed to recover within the game?
WES UNSELD JR.: I mean, he's had stretches where there's frustration or whether it's lack of calls or missed calls, missed shots, I think that goes in line with that whole team resilience. He showed his own individual resilience, while struggling, maybe a little bit frustrated. But he was able to channel that frustration into something positive.
Q. Defensively what was the challenge that they presented and the rotations and help the helper situations for you, especially slipping behind that last line of defense?
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, you know, Wagner and Banchero got going in that second half, and a lot of that was pick-and-roll, iso situations. I'll give the defense some credit there, too. They made some tough plays, some tough shots.
I think overall schematically we did the right things, clean up a handful of those turnovers, cut down on some of the transition opportunities, the paint points, I think it's a different ball game.
Q. Bilal, even though his stat line wasn't gaudy, I thought he really impacted the game when he was in there?
WES UNSELD JR.: He did, and that's a tall task to have to guard a guy with that size, probably got a few pounds on him, and we know he's going to be in a heavy dose of pick-and-rolls. Screen after screen, just trying to navigate, fight, get back in front, make those tough, contested shots, and some he made. But I think his effort, the intent, being able to do that without fouling for the most people, I think that's growth. That's positive for him.
Q. How nice was it to have Delon back, how did he look, and how will you guys manage things --
WES UNSELD JR.: He looked good. He looked a little tired. We expected that after a little bit of a stretch. But yeah, went to kind of slowly bring these guys back into the fold. You don't want to overexpose them too soon. But I thought he did some good things. He played with tempo, made some really good reads once he hit the paint, kicked out and found some guys on the perimeter. Delon is going to bring the defensive side. His activity with his hands, he's very cunning as far as creating turnovers. It's good to have that back.
Q. Johnny Davis returned, as well, tonight but got a DNP. How do you see him fitting back into the rotation coming back now?
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, it's been tough. It's going to be difficult because we have a lot of bodies, a lot of perimeter players. It's tough to play even 10, more or less 11 or 12. But the message that we've preached to all of our guys is stay ready so you don't have to get ready, and he's done a pretty good job of that. He'll get an opportunity. It's a long season, and you never know what happens.
But there will be opportunities to be had.
Q. Bilal, just one shot on the put-back lay-up on the offensive rebound. Do you see that as a negative as you need to get him more looks offensively --
WES UNSELD JR.: Not at all, just the flow of the game. We don't run a ton for Bilal to begin with. There's some flow offenses that are equal opportunity, some secondary offenses that I think allow everyone to get a touch and move and make reads. He'll score out of those situations. He'll score off spacing, going, catching, driving closeouts. Obviously he has the opportunity to rebound and push, then absolutely, play downhill, make the right read. I'm not worried about his offense. He's had some big nights for us, made some shots. The ball found him and he's made threes. Didn't happen tonight, but I don't look at it as a negative.
Q. Denny shot 1 for 7 and Kuzma shot 6 for 18. How much do you think those two struggling from the field impacted the final result?
WES UNSELD JR.: I mean, obviously you don't make shots, you're at a little bit of a deficit. But I thought for the most part they were quality looks, so I'm okay with the process of that, how those shots were generated. Obviously want to see those go in, but I think once again, we gave ourselves a chance. Take away some of those areas we spoke about, and I think it could have been different.
Q. What did you think of the fans tonight? They were really into it --
WES UNSELD JR.: It was a great crowd. I know it's the holiday season, this, that and the other, but I thought their energy kind of helped spur us through that stretch and that run there late in the fourth.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports