Nuggets 113, Wizards 104
Q. Wes, obviously a tough challenge for Gaff his first game back, but how do you feel like he did tonight?
WES UNSELD JR.: I think he did pretty well, actually. I told him after the game, I knew that's tough, guard a guy like that essentially single coverage, and that was kind of by design.
At times we mixed a few things in, but we know that team is making threes at a high volume on top of being able to score the way they can score in the post, in the paint. That game can really get away from you. So the fact that he held them to eight threes, minimized that part of it, puts whoever is guarding Nikola pretty much in single coverage with limited help.
He's a tough cover. Very efficient, and we see it from night tonight, but to be able to withstand some of that, make some plays and just stay with it, not get distracted or get discouraged I think was great.
Q. The bench did a good job, especially in the third and fourth quarters. What are you liking from them lately? Landry was really active. I think they got it to nine in the fourth.
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, him, Bilal I thought had another good game, Marvin coming off the bench was solid. To their credit, they just bring that energy and that pop, and it's tough, they've had some stretches where they haven't played well, and I had to go back early to the starters. So it's kind of read the flow a little bit. Last two games they've given us that little bit of a spark, so we need that every night.
Q. Kuz back in Atlanta mentioned he hasn't been playing up to his own standards. His scoring his dipped a little bit this month. What do you attribute that to?
WES UNSELD JR.: Well, I think some of that was a string of games, outside of these last two, the way he was being guarded. I think it affected overall options, took away some of his easier looks. Teams start -- I don't want to give it away, but teams were covering him a certain way that takes away some of his strengths. I'll say that.
But to his credit, he continues to still find ways to be effective, play downhill, try to make plays for others, getting to the paint, getting to the line when he can.
We know going in Jordan and Kuz are going to get the two best perimeter defenders, wing defenders for the most part. Ty at times is going to see size and length on the ball. That's just the way it is. We would match the same way, try to put our best defenders on a team's marquee players.
Q. By the end of the third quarter, Kuz and Poole had combined for like 13 points or something like that. I know you always say it doesn't come down to one guy or two guys, but when those two guys struggle to get going, how hard is it to get the offense to catch fire?
WES UNSELD JR.: Well, I think catch fire is easy when you're free flowing. Obviously when we get out and run, whether it's after makes, and obviously you get stops in run, I think we had a stretch there where we were very good because we were able to get stops. When they were taking the ball to the basket, you're playing against a set defense, and you've got two pretty good defenders on them. I know that team is locked into defending those two at a high rate.
You've got to rely a little bit more on the ball movement and find avenues to crack that shell, get downhill, ignite a trigger somewhere, whether that's out of a pick-and-roll or a drive-and-kick, and that opens up kind of those windows you look for. So it's not going to always be the guy who is accustomed to getting the shot. He may have to create the shot for others.
Q. Bilal had a career high four blocks tonight. What did he do well mechanically?
WES UNSELD JR.: I thought he did a pretty good job defending without fouling, really got into the ball. It's hard because pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll, hand-off, a lot of two-man actions, and he did a really good job of using his length, making plays late, whether that's at the rim or contesting late. Whether you're blocking or not, it's a deterrent, and to his credit, he did that without fouling.
Q. With Bagley and Gafford now both healthy and playing decent minutes, Patrick Baldwin's minutes might go down a little bit. What do you foresee his role, how it's going to shift over the next few games?
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, we'll read it. There's still going to be opportunities at times, depending on matchups, depending on the game. Marvin obviously has played well these three games. There's opportunities for Patrick if the coverage is right, certain matchups are right. So we'll see how it goes.
Q. Going back to Bilal's defense, can you talk specifically about the job that he and Deni did on Jamal Murray? He had a tough shooting night. It looked like they were forcing him into a lot of tough looks.
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, I took Deni out, and Deni was doing really well, and I stayed with Bilal because once again, Bilal was playing really well. Same type of talent; just don't give him anything easy. Both guys are physical enough, and Jamal is strong. He's built up his body. He's able to create some separation, pretty shifty. So to see Deni guard guys like that and fare well is a positive. Certainly a challenge for Bilal as a rookie, but you're guarding one of the best perimeter players in the league. I thought tonight he did well.
Q. Continuing with Bilal, whether by design or how it played out on the court, he spent time guarding Porter, Jokic, Reggie Jackson, I believe Aaron Gordon. Why do you trust him to be able to guard all those positions, and how do you think he did?
WES UNSELD JR.: I think he did well. There's certain things where he's got to learn. We'll clean those up. That's just being out there and having the experience of going through it. But to have a crack at all those different types of players it only going to help him down the line. It's going to help us, his ability to be kind of a Swiss Army knife and defensive stopper on a lot of levels, on the ball, off the ball, guarding the catch-and-shoot, the guys who are moving quite a bit. It's a little different than guarding 30 or 40 pick-and-rolls in a position. That's different than guarding a guy who wants to be physical and post you up.
Learning all those things and having the experience of doing it all in one game, I think that's going to expedite his maturation.
Q. How close do you feel like the team is to maximizing or getting the most out of who it has?
WES UNSELD JR.: I still think we've got a ways to go. I think it's going to take some time, and I think once we -- we've kind of gotten guys back, gotten Landry back, gotten Delon back, and we're pretty much whole, I think it's use these last 39, 40 games really to dial into our process and continue to lay that foundation.
Certain guys are going to have more opportunities, just the way it plays out. You look at a guy like Bilal, where he was maybe 20 games ago to where he is now, I think he trusts himself more. I think guys on the bench trust him. We've seen steady growth from him, and I've seen Deni improve, I've seen Corey improve. Now you inject a guy like Marvin, see what he's got. So there's a lot of moving pieces with that, but I do see internal improvement.
Q. How tough has it been considering that you had at least half a new roster to begin the season in terms of the lack of continuity --
WES UNSELD JR.: That's part of it, but I wouldn't say it's tough. It kind of gives you a clean slate, and you can change some ideas, do things differently. You have to start slow. You can't throw too much at them at one time, and we understand it's going to take some time. You need the requisite amount of reps to be comfortable with doing something. Like I said, we shifted some things defensively for the guys who have been here, and obviously the new group or new half of the group that came in in September, it's new to them, as well.
To see where that was then and now where it is now, it's not perfect, but it's certainly much improved.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports