Dallas Mavericks 112, Washington Wizards 104
Q. How did that fourth quarter turn their way so early?
BRIAN KEEFE: Hardaway cut a couple threes. Kind of changed the momentum a little bit I thought, and I thought we got some good looks. But to be honest, we just didn't make them. And then they made some plays down the stretch.
I thought we played toe-to-toe with them pretty much the whole game. Loved our defensive intensity and we did that without shooting the ball great be tonight, which I have great faith in our shooters. I think we shot 41 percent overall and 21 for three, and we kept defending the whole game. So I was really proud of the effort.
Q. A season high for Deni. He got frustrated, I think it was a season-high, he got frustrated with points but how do you think he did overall tonight especially on defense?
BRIAN KEEFE: He was great. We put him on, him and Bilal, the whole game, we put him on their players. He's been doing this for me for -- since I've taken over. He's been great, doing it on both ends. I like the improvement I see from Deni. He's really been stepping up these last couple games.
Q. What went into your decision to play Corey over Jordan?
BRIAN KEEFE: It's just a feel that I had. Just give a little more size, and we wanted -- nothing against Jordan. We tried out different things. We went small at the end of the game. I thought Marvin and Richaun were great.
Like I said, we got a little bit behind, so we were just trying different lineups to get some offense out there and get some spacing. That was the reason I went there.
Q. You tried a couple of different starting lineups because of injuries since you've taken over, but I wonder if you like having that flexibility and if you like keeping Marvin in there, or what's the plan with that?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think Marvin has been great. Look, everything is always up for evaluation. We are trying to improve as a team and improve as an organization, so we are going to do that on a daily basis.
But Marvin has been great. He's been a real positive impact since he's joined our team. I thought he had a good game tonight.
Q. We could kind of hear you since we get to sit close here, just telling him to be a little bit tighter on his man. Where do you want to see him focus on his defense?
BRIAN KEEFE: We were just in a certain coverage trying to take away some of their better players, so being aggressive on some of the pick-and-rolls. He executed tonight. He was great, what he did. He gave us a good scoring punch, too.
Q. How did Richaun play?
BRIAN KEEFE: I thought Richaun's first time being out there, his minutes were great. Active defensively. Physical. I liked his game. He really was a real positive in his mids tonight. But his physicality was great. Taking some hard fouls, too, which is good. You know, bringing -- setting a tone that we are going to be aggressive out there.
Q. I know they started to hit shots in the fourth, but after they didn't the first three quarters, but when they started to hit those shots, do you feel like your team got a bit unnerved, particularly midway through the quarter?
BRIAN KEEFE: I don't think so. I think we tried, they made shots, that's normal. The guys, that's going to happen throughout the game. I thought we weathered it. We just unfortunately didn't make ours.
I thought we got some decent looks that we've been hitting for the last few games. We just didn't hit them tonight. I liked our resolve and again we kept pushing to the end and that's been some good growth for our team.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports