Wizards 110, Nets 104
Q. Kuz, what do you think was the difference tonight in the win?
KYLE KUZMA: I think we did a good job of holding them not getting to the free-throw line as much, outside of the last ticky-tack calls that we had at the end, and we just closed the game out.
Q. I want to ask you about two players and what you thought of their performances tonight, Deni and Mike Muscala.
KYLE KUZMA: Mike was huge. Mike did a phenomenal job. He's such a professional. Doesn't complain about minutes, doesn't complain about really much. He's just here for a good time. He works hard and got an opportunity tonight, made the most out of it, and I'm really proud of him.
Q. What about Deni's performance?
KYLE KUZMA: Deni did a great job. Had a rough couple weeks, but he's done a good job today, obviously rebounding, and really was a catalyst in that third quarter with the second unit.
Q. What does it mean to you to win the NBA community assist award for November?
KYLE KUZMA: It means a lot. I try to pride myself on being as good as possible and bringing good to this world. Obviously it means a lot to me and my family, so it's great.
Q. You had kind of an up-and-down first three quarters and then you checked in with about five and a half minutes left, scored nine points in two minutes. Wes said that you were doing some matchup hunting and mismatch hunting, things like that. What's your mindset when you come into the game like that for closing time?
KYLE KUZMA: That's how I want to play. When you think about top options on every team, that's how they play. I don't really necessarily have the opportunity to do that a lot, and I think for the first -- outside of the first and the fourth quarter, second and third, I was really just out of rhythm, took a bunch of grenade shots at the end of the shot clock just trying to make something happen.
My teammates really just trusted me and gave me the ball when I demanded it, and just -- it feels good when your teammates trust you.
Q. As you look back over this year as we're getting close to the end of the year, what are some takeaways that you've gotten from this team this season so far?
KYLE KUZMA: Oh, man, that's a tough question. It's been a long season. We're just developing. That's the biggest thing. It's not -- it's not to say it's not about the wins or losses because obviously where we are right now, but it's just about building the habits to have successful years down the road. We have some positive things. Corey has been a bright spot. Bilal has been a bright spot. Those guys have really gotten better as the season progressed and playing efficient basketball, team good basketball.
Gaff has been really good as of late, especially at rebounding. Since I've been his teammate, he's improved in that category a lot, just being more of a dog on the glass over the past couple weeks.
We're just moving forward. We're moving forward.
Q. I wanted to circle back to the NBA Cares award because a lot of that recognition was the event you held, jail reform. I was just curious, jail reform for women is not a cause you necessarily typically see, so just wanted to ask why that cause and why that's important to you.
KYLE KUZMA: I mean, I have relationships with the sheriff back in my hometown, and just having discussions with him, I've been trying to figure out my way into like that reform space. I have a lot of great friends that do a lot of really impactful stuff in that space that's really influenced me like Michael Rubin, obviously with what he does from a prison standpoint. But the jail reform is something that's very interesting, and it's not really looked at, like you said, especially for women. Jail is not a place for women. It's never, ever been a place for women. A lot of times in jail women are really marginalized, and they just lack the same type of opportunities and like just access like you would have in a jail.
It was just a really special moment. We reunited a young lady with her newborn baby. She was in jail. She had the baby, had to give it to her mom, didn't see her baby for two, three months, and just to see that unification was really special and just made me even more serious about that aspect of things because it's overlooked a lot, especially when you talk about jail. A lot of times those people, like that's the most structure they probably ever had in their life. They're probably in there for mild or like moderate charges, and when you think about mild to moderate charges, a lot of times -- not a lot of times because people do do bad in this world, but a lot of times it's because their environment, too, and just what they've given in this life, and that's a whole different separate ecosystem to talk about.
But yeah, it was special.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports