Warriors 123, Wizards 112
Q. Corey, how did it come about last game where you decided you just couldn't give it a go?
COREY KISPERT: It was one of those things where you kind of -- I literally just showed up at the arena for our walk-through and something came over me, wasn't feeling good at all, tried to kind of fight through it, take some medication to help with the nausea. Just got worse and worse, and then at game time it was ultimately a no-go. I would have been an absolute liability out there two days ago.
Made the right choice, got home, took a couple days off and now I'm feeling much better thankfully and a few pounds lighter. I got rid of some stuff in the body that I needed to.
Q. How did it feel to be back out there and play the way that you did?
COREY KISPERT: It was good. Yeah, it's always good to be back out there. Watching the game at home sucks.
I thought we played a really good game for 40 minutes, and those other eight minutes kind of screwed us tonight.
We're getting there, man. We're getting closer. Games like this where we put a good effort out there, where it doesn't result the way we want to is still something we can build off of, and there's a lot of really good things to take from tonight.
Q. Where do you see the biggest improvements?
COREY KISPERT: Yeah, our resilience, first of all. Middle of the season or the beginning of the season, in that third quarter we would have folded. We would have given up the game and lost by 30.
But tonight was different. We decided to buckle up and fight again and crawl our way back into this game. It was a 10-ish point game there at the end, which can go either way.
Then also just our mentality. We fought them on the boards pretty good tonight. Didn't take care of the ball great, but we defended, and it's hard to guard guys like Curry and Thompson and Green when he has the ball, running and chasing him around, and we made them work for every basket they got tonight.
Q. Those eight minutes, I assume you're talking about the third quarter?
COREY KISPERT: Yeah.
Q. Where did things go awry for you guys?
COREY KISPERT: I think we let some turnovers and some struggles on the offensive end take us away from what we were trying to do defensively. They took advantage of our turnovers and got easy baskets in transition. When we played in crowds and turned the ball over - everybody did that, including me - it led to easy things for them and kind of got their momentum going. We held them to a good number shooting in the ball in the first half, and when you give them easy ones like that and they capitalize, it's over against these guys.
Q. I'm sure you've seen a ton of Klay Thompson over the years. What's it like in those moments where you're chasing him around screens and you're chasing him on back cuts and things like that? What do you learn from those moments?
COREY KISPERT: Yeah, you learn everything. It's a whole lot different guarding him than watching him on film. I watched Klay's film for years before, while I was in the league. Obviously when you're in the game and you're playing, like you're a competitor, and you're trying to not give them anything at all. But obviously when the game is over you step back and you take little bits and pieces about how he uses his body to get open and the pace he plays at and his confidence and how he's able to just keep shooting no matter if it goes in or doesn't.
Those are the kind of things that made him special throughout his career. Those are things that you can take from him as a player who has a similar game, for sure.
Q. We've talked a lot over the course of this season about your off-the-dribble game and where you've seen improvements attacking the basket. In the first half you had a little step-through and then sort of a sweeping little right hook almost. How long has that been in your bag?
COREY KISPERT: It's been in my bag for a while. It's just having the right moments to bring it out. I'm more confident, like as ever, I'm more confident than ever to put the ball on the floor and finish around the rim.
Now finding ways to make defenses pay for closing out so tightly on me is kind of my No. 1 thing. So playing with that confidence to get downhill and finish in creative ways, it's just going to make me even tougher to guard. Finishes like that have shown me how much my work is paying off.
Q. I know you started tonight, but how can you play off of Jordan now that he's in the second unit?
COREY KISPERT: Yeah, Jordan, he understands what good basketball is. He's played in it. He's seen in it. He's played against it his whole career. He ultimately wants to get guys like me and Landry and guys who can shoot involved.
It's an adjustment for him to be playing the point. I think he's more used to being -- or at least he has been more used to playing off the ball with us, but being the No. 1 ball handler and point guard in that second unit is an adjustment for him, and we're constantly talking and working together.
When we can get that cohesion and we get gelled right, it's going to be really, really hard for teams to guard with his gravity and my gravity when I come off the bench and Landry's gravity, as well, when he comes off the bench.
Once we get that synergy and that combination right, it's going to be really cool for us to play together.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports