Thunder 136, Wizards 128
Q. Kuz, you guys played pretty competitively with them but were never quite able to close the gap. How did they maintain that edge?
KYLE KUZMA: I mean, they just did a good job in the fourth quarter of exploiting mismatches and just putting us in situations where we either had to help a lot or scramble, and they did a great job. They know what they want to do on the court.
Q. You mentioned after the last game how you guys had scored about 100 points a game the previous three. Tonight you broke out against a good defense. What was different offensively?
KYLE KUZMA: I think we did a good job hitting shots. We went to the line 29 times. Playing OKC, they're a team that have a lot of great length and good defenders that they foul a lot, so we took advantage of that.
We got downhill, made the right plays, so...
Q. I know you're not one to take moral victories and things like that, but are there any positives you can take from a game like this against a good team that's on the rise?
KYLE KUZMA: No. I mean, for me, no, not really. No, they scored 130. This is like routine.
Q. In recent days, has there been more emphasis on defense in terms of game prep and in turn just planning for an opponent, more focus on defense and less on offense in the run-up to games?
KYLE KUZMA: Yeah, the coaches, they try to prepare us as much as they can.
Q. Tonight the crowd was loud. Does it pump you guys up when you hear the crowd get behind you guys?
KYLE KUZMA: For sure. Anytime we can get fans to come into Cap One and they're loud, it's great.
Q. Rebounding and defense have been issues this year. What can you do from a player's perspective to shore that up?
KYLE KUZMA: I think the biggest thing is boxing out, having our guards fly in, hitting somebody. A lot of times we leave gap down there by himself, and just boxing out. That's the biggest thing for me. We're not the best at it.
Q. What were your impressions of Chet Holmgren tonight?
KYLE KUZMA: He's a beast. He's a really talented player. He can do a lot of different things on the court. He's able to really eat off of the other talented players on this team. He can play within himself in the role that they have him in, and you'll see it. Like some nights like tonight he'll have 30, some nights he may have 16 and 14 and eight blocks. He does a great job at being so young understanding the game and playing off of Shai, playing off of JW, playing off of Gates, play making, passing.
Q. Bilal had a lot of possessions where he was guarding Shai tonight. From your perspective what did you see from him defending different looks tonight?
KYLE KUZMA: I mean, yeah, we held him to his average, so you can look at that a couple ways. Bilal is getting better every game. He's doing a good job just being inquisitive, being a learner, being somebody that wants to be a really good ball player. Tough to get him some minutes a lot of times, but that'll come.
Q. Are you rooting for your home state Wolverines tonight?
KYLE KUZMA: Yeah. They're up, right?
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports