Celtics 133, Wizards 129
Q. Obviously you did pretty well, but I wonder what you like about this starting lineup in particular?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, I mean, obviously we made a new lineup adjustment because of some of the circumstances. I loved how our guys competed tonight. We came out and defended as best we could in the first half and we played really fast, wanted to get up quite an amount of threes. We did that. Our execution was pretty good for about 36 minutes, right?
The third quarter was a little tough. What was great for our group was that we responded in the fourth and we're resilient. That's what we talk about a lot.
Q. Early in the first quarter there was a realization that we need to get out ahead. Who do you credit that to? Are you yelling that from the sideline?
BRIAN KEEFE: It's just something we're talking about, learning how to do it, play at that pace. We talk about it as a group constantly, but it's our whole team. Our running habits. We passed the ball ahead, we did that quite a bit tonight. We got a lot of easy baskets.
Q. Jordan bounced back. What can you say about his performance?
BRIAN KEEFE: This is who Jordan is. I have the ultimate faith in Jordan as a basketball player. This is a champion. I knew he would respond the way he did. He really gave us a huge surge in the first half.
This is who Jordan is and always will be. I expect things like that from Jordan.
Q. Bilal obviously guarding some of the best guys in the NBA all season. How have you seen him learn to adjust?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think this is a great experience for him. We put him out there to guard the best players. He's learning their tendencies, what they like to do. These are all new for him, but each one he grows from.
I think that's the biggest thing we're looking for from Bilal. He's shown it. He learns from game to game, past game experience versus certain players. We're going to keep putting him in those situations.
Q. What can this group learn about themselves going forward and competing as a team?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think every team that we play, each game that we go through, is a lesson. This is a great team. We knew they were going to come out in the third quarter and try to get physical with us. It affected us a little bit. But we had growth within the game. They got up I think maybe 15 or so at the end, and we pushed it. I think we got it to five, six at the end. Was it four?
We battled back. That's part of the growth for us, is that resiliency to keep playing the whole thing. We end up winning three of the four quarters. We just had a tough third.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports