Q. Pretty back and forth game, you guys had it down to three with eight seconds left. What do you think the difference was tonight?
WES UNSELD JR.: I thought our competitiveness, the effort, I thought we really played well. You give yourself a chance. They stretched it a little bit, I think, 7 or 9, but we were able to respond, so showed some resilience. Struggled to make some shots, but I thought our process was positive. Created open looks, and I can live with that.
You create easy offense or good offense, now it becomes make or miss. But I thought overall our defense was solid, and obviously Brunson had a night. He's a hell of a player. But trying to do some of the things we talked about pregame, minimizing second-chance points, taking care of the paint. We did some of those things.
Q. Big night for Marvin in his debut. What did you make of that, and was it an easy decision given some of the depth issues you have right now --
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, it was a very long-winded conversation that we had about how we would start, but just made sense. Size differential, he showed us some limited time practicing a half that he could pick things up, and that's a heck of a start for him. I thought he had a well-balanced game offensively, defensively. Even things that happened on the fly, I thought the group in general helped talk him through situations to keep him organized. That's growth for us.
Q. He said the defensive lingo pregame was maybe the biggest learning curve. A pair of steals and three blocks; what did you make of that given you knew that was going to be part of the learning curve?
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, I think just his effort and energy, his overall awareness, multiple effort to get to the paint, make those plays. Credit to him; he had a really good night.
Q. It seemed like there was a long stretch in that fourth quarter where you guys would get it to two, Brunson would score, draw a foul, something. Do guys get frustrated like they're doing everything but one guy is hurting us --
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, it is frustrating, and to his credit, he's a hard one to guard. Very shifty. Being able to try to guard him without fouling -- we tried to get the ball out of his hands at times, and like I said, a little difficult for Marvin to do things on the fly that we haven't had a ton of time to practice. But overall, he got going in that fourth quarter.
But first through third quarter, I thought we did a pretty good job on him.
Q. Tyus struggled from the floor tonight shooting the ball but set a new career high with assists. What did you see from him tonight?
WES UNSELD JR.: Tyus being Tyus. I'm not worried about him making shots. He shot the ball, particularly from three very well this season. I think just an off-night in that area, but to his credit, quarterbacking the offense, keeping us organized, reading flow, time, score, he's done that his whole career. High assist, low turnover guy really helps your overall efficiency.
Q. First half threes for both teams were at a premium. What did you like about your three-point defense and what was making it tough for you guys? Did you like the looks --
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, we generated quite a few in the corner, some of those in transition, and those are just, you don't knock them down. But I think when we can find those type of plays, that's positive. Just reinforcing, encouraging, finding those actions I think is important, regardless of result.
Q. With Isaiah not being able to play, was there an idea for the right situation arising you were going to try to --
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, I think it's hard because you play 10 guys, usually nine and a half, 10 is kind of the max end of your rotation. He's going to work his way in. That's just the nature of the league. Minutes and opportunities will open up at some point, but we'll see how it goes. I think he's going to find his way, and eventually he'll make his way to the court.
Q. It seemed like a lot of Marvin's baskets came on dives to the hoop where a guy finds him. Is that kind of where you see him thriving with this team?
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, I think he's shown that he's got really good touch, feel, around restricted area, the paint. I think he can stretch it, his shooting from the corners, open up the three a little bit. But he feels very comfortable in the pocket, as a facilitator, as a play maker. Obviously he's finishing pretty well for himself, so when that ball finds him, I think he'll make the right decision.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports