Timberwolves 118, Wizards 107
Q. Obviously the turnovers were costly. What was the common thread there?
WES UNSELD JR.: Some of them were us playing in crowds. Going in, a really good defensive team, high deflection rate. You just can't lose those possessions.
Q. What did you think about Deni's performance? Seemed like he went up against a lot of physical defense and played pretty well.
WES UNSELD JR.: He did, played very well. To his credit, I think he was able to play through some of that contact, play downhill has been a strength of his all season, and that's helped us. Puts a lot of pressure on the rim, opens up threes for us, and gets him to the line. Those are easy points. A lot of those possessions are coming in transition. So we're getting stops, getting out.
Even early in the game, I thought we did a pretty good job with our tempo even after makes, getting the ball in and up, attacking early possession, which is really good when you don't want to play against a set defense of that magnitude.
Q. What has Deni done to improve his ability to push the contact and take a little bit more --
WES UNSELD JR.: Some of it's his footwork. He's worked a lot on his footwork. He's worked a lot in the weight room just as far as not just absorbing but delivering a little bit of contact, playing through some contact. He's also worked on his finishing in traffic and around length, which you just have to kind of slow down a little bit, from moving at 100 miles an hour in transition to kind of slow play it a little bit, get your foot in correct, and then being able to finish with a little bit of touch. In traffic it's not easy.
He's put a lot of time into those areas, and it's paid dividends.
Q. What did you think of the physicality tonight going up against Gobert and Towns with the number of --
WES UNSELD JR.: Yeah, they're a handful. Obviously the defensive rebounding percentage wasn't as high as we needed it to be, but I thought in general, turnovers aside, it was a pretty good game for us. Struggled in that third quarter, I think five offensive rebounds in that stretch for nine points, handful of turnovers in that stretch, but high assist night overall.
I think second highest assist night -- second highest assist percentage for us this season.
When we were able to move the ball, I thought we created some really good looks, make or miss. At times we got static, and that's where we got bogged down.
Q. You mentioned the offensive rebounds. What makes Marvin so particularly good at that? Obviously he's going up against their second unit, but what are you seeing from him?
WES UNSELD JR.: He's rebounding the ball at a really high clip, to his credit. Has a good feel for when to challenge shots off the ball, when to kind of retreat with the role, bend back to his own. He doesn't get caught in too many over-help situations, and I think that allows him to be in a position to meet force with force and at times get some of those rebounds.
Q. What tilted the game in that favor in the third quarter during that 16-2 run?
WES UNSELD JR.: It was their points in the paint. They were very aggressive in the paint. Some of those were post-ups, duck-ins to Towns. We tried to adjust to get the ball out of his hands a bit, and coverage at times wasn't clean, but it was the volume of points in the paint. Some of that was transition. Some of it was offensive rebounding, and some of it was just post-ups.
Q. Tonight Deni played great, Marvin played great, but Jordan struggled. Other nights Jordan will play great but other guys will struggle. As a coach how hard is it to manage a team and a season when it's tough to get multiple guys playing great in the same game?
WES UNSELD JR.: I think it goes back to process. Are we playing the right way. Are we trying to do the right thing. Do we have the overall disposition that's needed. Whether we make a shot or not, it's going to have some nights. But I think collectively we did some really positive things.
Overall offensively it was a pretty good night. Jordan struggled, but he's going to have those nights and he's going to have nights where he shoots the ball well. I'm not overly concerned with him individually or any individual when it comes to shooting percentage, just more like our process.
Q. As a more general thing, how do you feel about the way the officials handled the first-step travel call? I could be making this up, but it seems like the Wizards have been bitten by that maybe a little bit more than other teams. Do you think that's the case?
WES UNSELD JR.: I don't know if it's more than other teams. Obviously those turnovers are costly. They're not live ball, but those are wasted possessions. When you watch it on film, sometimes they're not. It's not a challengeable play. It's just the official's discretion.
Q. We've talked about how having Marvin came in handy when Gaff was out to injury, but sometimes he gets in foul trouble. On a night like tonight, how convenient was it to have Marvin step in and the interchangeability that we've been talking about?
WES UNSELD JR.: It's invaluable. Obviously I thought Gaff put up a really good effort. He got a tough whistle. But on those nights when you have a guy kind of there who has the ability to kind of step in that role and who's shown he's played that role pretty well, there's a level of comfort.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports