Celtics 130, Wizards 104
Q. What do you take away from this game when you guys had so many injuries and are relying on a lot of different people and playing weird lines and everything like that?
JORDAN POOLE: It's the league. It's the best league in the world. We've got a good chance to get some other guys in today, get some reps. They played a lot in that second half, which is good for their on-ball reps and everything that they've been working on. Coming off a back to back, it's tough to bring some energy, but we continued to fight until the end and just got to learn from it.
Q. It was obviously different for you when you were in your first and second year and everything like that, but do you remember the challenges of being called on like that and you're not used to playing those minutes or guarding guys like that, and can you speak to what those guys are being asked to do here?
JORDAN POOLE: Yeah, I don't think anything in the league is easy, and that goes for anybody. But just staying ready, staying locked in and paying attention to details of the scouting report, knowing who we play, personnel, just as a fan of the game. It goes for everybody on our team. It's such a long season, people get hurt just throughout the course, whether it's a late scratch, whether it's a couple weeks. Guys just got to stay ready when their number is called and get that opportunity and show all the work that they've put in.
Q. What do you think changed after it was 17-17, you got off to a pretty good start and they were able to build a pretty large lead?
JORDAN POOLE: They're a really good team. They got some open looks. They went on a nice little run. I think they may have hit three or four threes, got a couple lay-ups and kind of heated up early in that first half. I want to say late first quarter, early second quarter. We've just got to find ways to get stops, honestly, go back to the drawing board.
Q. What was it like trying to defend the three-point line tonight after they got off to that hot start? You guys tried to make the necessary adjustments.
JORDAN POOLE: They have really good personnel for the type of offense that they run. Sam got hot tonight. He had a huge game for them. So when they're able to space the floor like that, it kind of opens up driving lanes, and they move the ball, they've been playing together for a while, a lot of high IQ players, and they were just finding the open man tonight. Just got to find ways to try to cut their water off early and go from there.
Q. What are your initial impressions of Justin, what he brings to the table and how he plays?
JORDAN POOLE: Yeah, a really good player, can space the floor, really good shooter, knows how to play the right way, knows how to drive and kick, knows when to get off of it, knows when to create or relocate and get into open space, and he competes on the defensive end. He had a good game tonight. He was aggressive. We told him go out there and just kind of play his game. He had the opportunity to. He got a start, and he was out there for 36 minutes, so it was really good for him.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports