Wizards 110, Heat 108
Q. Talk about Kuzma today and his performance, 32 points and everything else he did for you.
BRIAN KEEFE: I thought he was great. We had to go small. We had a couple guys out. Did a great job on defense, playing at the 5, which is not his normal position, but then he was attacking all night. Obviously the scoring was great, but he was also facilitating, too, getting in the paint, kicking out to our shooters, not just for assists but swing passes. Great job by him tonight.
Q. Your three-pointers, is that as good as you've seen the team shoot in a while, and are you happy with the number you shot, also?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, we try to get 40. That's kind of our mini-goal for each game. I think we got 39. We shot really well in the second half. Obviously I think we were 26 percent in the first half, so that ball was moving. 35 assists on 39 baskets. The ball movement was great tonight.
Q. Up 10 with 2:45 left, then they came back. What do you attribute -- you guys were trying to take some time off the clock or --
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, I think we got a little stagnant, a little slow, got up against the end of the clock, and then we missed some, and sometimes when you take a tough shot at the end of the clock, that can lead to a fast transition. They were playing fast, got some baskets in transition, but we held on at the end.
Q. Talk about Tyus Jones' game high 16 assists. Talk about how he ran the game today.
BRIAN KEEFE: This is something he's been doing all the year. He's an extension of the coaching staff. He's our point guard on the floor. I can't speak enough for his leadership. Played the whole fourth quarter and just kind of controlled the flow of the game. One turnover. Tremendous.
Q. Deni and Kispert and their performances?
BRIAN KEEFE: Both played great. Corey came in, started. Causes so much havoc by his shooting and his movement.
Then Deni, again, out of position because we were playing small, rebounding, made some big threes late.
Nice contribution by Patrick Baldwin, Jr., too. This is one of our things that were really important to our development of our guys. He played with our Go-Go a lot, played extended minutes tonight, and his minutes were great, so it's just an example of the development in our G-League. When guys come to us, they're always ready, and he was ready to go tonight.
Q. Just in the big picture you talked before the game about your respect for the Heat franchise, and this is your second straight win. What does it mean, starting to move in a positive direction here?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think, as I said, tremendous respect for the Heat and what they've done over the years here, their consistency. They're one of the model franchises, obviously. We're focused on our eternal growth. That's been the big thing is getting better every day from each practice, each game, each shootaround. We've had a lot of close games lately, kind of a little fumble down the stretch, but we've made some really good fourth quarter -- showing some growth. A good moment for us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports