Washington Wizards Media Conference

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Washington, DC, USA

Kyle Kuzma

Media Conference


Warriors 123, Wizards 112

Q. From your perspective, why did this game change in the third quarter?

KYLE KUZMA: I mean, third quarter, we just didn't play a good brand of basketball offensively in that third quarter. I think that's where it got away from us. I think we responded in the fourth, played well in the first and second, and just our achilles heel all year has been that third quarter.

We're just not doing the job as starters in the third collectively all year.

It sucks because we played a damn good game tonight outside of that little run that we had. It's disappointing. That's on us.

Q. When you talk about the resiliency coming back in the fourth quarter and playing a good three quarters besides the third quarter, what does it say about the team's fight, the team's resolve that after a tough third quarter against a championship-level team, you can still come back and make it a competitive game in the end?

KYLE KUZMA: I mean, yeah, you can look at it that way, but you can also look at it just the way I look at it. We've just got to -- we have to play basketball for 48 minutes. Those 12 minutes every single game it feels like, we just stink it up. That's just on us. I don't know. It's just been rough for us all year in that third quarter.

With numbers down, I'm not making excuses, but with numbers down, we showed some heart and resilience, like you said, in that fourth quarter. It was that. I don't think it's a building block or anything because we still need to build on halftime.

Q. What's it been like this year? You mentioned the third quarter. Obviously the NET rating is what it is. Just trying to adjust as the season goes on and fix that issue?

KYLE KUZMA: I mean, it's challenging for sure. We and I just can't put our finger on it, why we just keep coming out so lackadaisical. I don't know what it is, but it pisses me off for sure. I think about it almost every night. We always have these stretches in games where it just gets away from us.

That's on all of us. We just have to be better. It's not about coaching. It's not about the scheme. We just haven't been able to figure it out.

Yeah, it's tough.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
141274-1-1002 2024-02-28 02:59:00 GMT

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