Magic 127, Wizards 119
Q. You're shooting 73 percent from three over your last five games. Have you done anything differently?
TYUS JONES: I have not. Just shooting it with confidence, trusting in my work. That's really it. Just taking the shots that are there for me, being aggressive, being confident, continuing to learn the offense, learn the system, and that's really it, man. Nothing too crazy.
Q. It seems like you have that floater down. At what point in your career do you work on making that a signature shot?
TYUS JONES: Yeah, I've always had a floater. I feel like each level I went up, I just had to kind of get to it more. Just with big men being more athletic, taller, things like that, so from high school to college, had to use it a little bit more, from college to the pros obviously had to start using it. It was just something that I was able to know I could kind of get to, and yes, so each year I feel like I've gotten better and better at it, knowing how to get to it, what spots, when I'm able to get to it and things like that. Yeah, I kind of feel like I've got it down pat.
Q. How nice was it to have Delon back after his long absence?
TYUS JONES: Super nice. Super nice. He's worked his butt off to get back. Unfortunate injury he's had. He was telling me last year, it's kind of like the same situation. Like he went out pretty early in the season.
He worked hard to be back. It was definitely a spark for us and good to have him back. He was classic Delon tonight, a couple steals, a couple deflections, disrupting things on defense, was able to get to the paint a couple times, get a couple nice buckets. Just another ball handler out there, decision maker. It was nice to have him back for sure.
Q. What was the key to the push in the second half and the crowd got behind you guys? What did that energy feel like?
TYUS JONES: Yeah, it felt great. We needed that. The crowd helped us out for sure. The key was getting stops. We were rebounding and getting out and running, just taking the open looks, just playing fast, and that's one of our strengths. Just trying to continue to play with pace, get stops first and then get out, so we're just going to have to build on that.
Q. What challenge did they present defensively for you to get you in a rotation?
TYUS JONES: They got firepower. They're able to get downhill. They've got a couple good actions, able to get them to the paint, and that puts pressure on your defense, kind of breaks your defense down, makes you scramble. Yeah, they've got a couple guys that can get going, that can fill it up, put the ball in the basket, but you've got to just try to make them work, try not to give them anything easy, and they hit some tough shots tonight, you've just got to tip your cap.
Q. You guys have had good fights against these guys two or three times now. Is the takeaway that when Banchero and Wagner get going in the paint, it's hard to stop them?
TYUS JONES: Yeah, they do a good job of mixing up different looks to get downhill, get them into the paint. But obviously they're talented guys. They know their strengths. They play to them. There was just a couple times they hit tough shots, and there's only so much you can do. We've just got to do a better job of continuing to try to play physical early and often, not let them get into a rhythm, things like that. But it happens. It's learning. We've got to learn from it and grow from it.
Q. Has your son asked you how many assists you had tonight?
TYUS JONES: I had six assists tonight. Is that good?
TYUS JONES JR.: Yeah, because that's how many I wanted you to have.
Q. From a game that had a lot of emotions highs and lows, how do you rebound on the front end of a back to back going into the second leg?
TYUS JONES: Yeah, honestly, you've just got to flush it and regroup. Take some of the good, but take some of the bad, too, like what didn't we do tonight that we want to improve upon tomorrow. It's a quick turnaround, but that's the beauty of the league; we've got another chance right away tomorrow to try to get back in the win column. Got to get our rest, hydrate, things like that, and then regroup because we've got another team coming in here that's not going to make any excuses for us. They're coming in here to win a ball game, too.
You've just got to move on quickly and regroup.
Q. As you move forward to tomorrow's game, is there any benefit that you see playing another team that has big, physical wings that lead the way, or is it just a completely different team, different dynamics?
TYUS JONES: There's some similarities for sure offensively, but at the same time, they're different players. I'm not sure if it's too much of a benefit. Just some different things like that.
Q. As professional as you are and as much as the team depends on you, how are you handling a season where you're not winning as much as you're accustomed to?
TYUS JONES: Yeah, it's tough, honestly. It's tough. Just being a competitor, priding myself on being a winner, but at the same time just understanding like this is part of what sometimes teams have to go through. Sometimes there's dark days. Sometimes there's periods of growing, learning. It's not just easy. You can look at a team like Orlando, for example. It took them a couple years of growing together, figuring each other out, figuring it out to really gel, and they're putting it together this year.
Sometimes it just takes time to learn, and it's tough to stay patient, but just trying to look at the big picture like that's just where we're at right now. We have to continue to learn, continue to grow as a team, as a unit, but it is tough. I would be lying if I'm sitting here saying it's fine, but I'm a competitor. I want to win. I want to win games, and I pride myself on that, and I'm going to keep hanging my hat on that because I would be cheating myself, cheating the guys if I wasn't competing at the highest level or caring that we weren't winning as many games as we would like.
Q. A lot of times this season, I feel like especially recently, you've started off being really hot in the first quarter and that's been indicative of you being consistent throughout the game I think with big numbers. Do you feel like that's the case?
TYUS JONES: Yeah. Just again, just trying to take what the defense is giving me. Sometimes early in the game, the shots are there, and just trying to be aggressive and take them. Sometimes getting guys going is kind of how the game -- what the game presents. It's honestly not looking too much into it, just trying to take what the defense is giving you, and again, trying to be aggressive, trying to make plays, and yeah, so I try not to look too much into it.
Q. We're in January now or almost January. You and Jordan combined for 52 tonight. What are you learning about him, and how is your chemistry with him developing?
TYUS JONES: It's getting better. It's continuing to get better. We're talking in the game constantly, figuring each other out, figuring out where each other -- how to complement each other better, how to complement one another. We're just trying to continue to improve.
It's still early when you think about it in the grand scheme of things like 30 games in of sharing the court. Still just trying to improve, take it one game at a time, but we feel like we're definitely building.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports