Knicks 121, Wizards 105
Q. Deni, 20 turnovers, what was the common theme there?
DENI AVDIJA: I feel like we were just static. First half we were kind of looking at each other, had no movement. We were pretty static offensively, and it led to us driving the ball into crowds and leading to turnovers. We made some passes. They're pretty good defensively. Part of the game.
Q. Scoring has been a strength for you guys this season, but Kuz mentioned the last three games have been, I guess, a little bit of a departure from that. What has been different for the offense lately?
DENI AVDIJA: What do you mean departure?
Q. You guys haven't been scoring as well as you usually do the last few games. Why do you think that is?
DENI AVDIJA: I think every team and every player got some nights or periods of time that the ball doesn't go in as much. We've got to understand that it's part of basketball, and we've got to do other things better, whether it's defensively, whether it's rebounding. We've got to get better at that for us to have a chance because even the best teams, not every night the ball is going to go in, and they excel in the other things in making the game close.
So I feel like sometimes when the ball doesn't go in, we've got to play better defense or be more aggressive and maybe crash the boards a little bit more, things that can help us get in a better flow.
Q. What worked well for you guys in the third quarter, and how do you keep that momentum going forward?
DENI AVDIJA: You just bump up the aggressiveness. Getting on the floor a couple possessions, easy passes for kick-out threes, and suddenly you go on a run, and everybody feels good. Suddenly you look up, it's a five-point game. We were capable of doing that, and we showed it in the second half for sure.
Q. What makes Julius Randle so tough to guard and face?
DENI AVDIJA: I don't know, for me he's not that tough to guard, but he's aggressive. He picks his spots. He's trying to score, honestly. He's a big guy, going in the lane, getting fouls. That's about it.
Q. Speaking of aggression and speaking of Julius Randle, when you're getting aggressive on offense, it seems like you don't really care how big the guy who's guarding you is. You put the ball in Randle's gut a couple times and took him to the hoop. Do you really just not care who's guarding you, you're just going to get aggressive and try to get downhill every time?
DENI AVDIJA: Yeah, that's part of my game. I figured out with the time that I'm 6'9", I work a lot in the weight room, lifting a lot, so I've got to use it a little bit. Yeah, I initiate the first contact a lot of times, and for some guys it's really hard to keep up.
Other than that, yeah, I don't really pay attention. Depends. Depends on -- I don't know.
Q. We've talked about your scoring has been up lately and things like that, but your assists have also been right around that five or six per game mark. What are you seeing court vision-wise that's helping you find the open teammate or what's working for you in that sense?
DENI AVDIJA: First of all, transition for me, like me in the open court, facilitating, making passes for others to get them going. It's a big part of my game that I added this year that I feel really comfortable with. On a set offense, more so having good driving kicks and kick out to open shooters.
Other than that, it's just helping my teammates get in the game and making easy plays. Plain and simple.
Q. Do you feel like your comfort as a pick-and-roll ball handler has improved over the course of the season?
DENI AVDIJA: Yeah, I think I can do better. With the reps, the repetition and me being more aggressive and really bumping up that shooting percentage and shooting with more confidence, I feel like it will open up also different passes because it's going to draw more attention.
But other than that, I like to really facilitate out of the pick-and-roll and find the open guys more than score. It's just my mindset.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports