Wizards 107, Bulls 105
Q. What stands out to you about the last minute of that game?
BRIAN KEEFE: Stuff we've been working on. We've been in a lot of close games lately. We were in one two days ago. It's stuff that we've been focusing on working on and being able to execute down the stretch some of the things we wanted to do. Really pleased with that. Great growth.
Q. Have you tweaked the execution there or is it guys seeing that situation over and over again?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think it's a little bit of the fruit of all the work we've done. I think we've been in a lot of close situations. We've learned a lot. We've worked on a lot of this stuff in practice, and now I think we're seeing some growth, and we're seeing improvement.
We're not there yet. We're never going to assume that. But I think we're seeing that we're executing better down the stretch, both offensively and defensively, so these are great lessons for our guys and really thrilled that they got to win tonight.
Q. Down so many bodies, what can you say about the fight from guys like Justin and Jared and really the depth of your roster?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think it's a testament to our player development system, how much work goes on behind the scenes from our staff, but a lot of credit to those guys for the work they've put in. Every time they've been called on, they're ready to play, and they've been put in situations that are great, great growing and learning situations down the stretch, making big plays.
I thought a lot of guys gave us great minutes. Jared was obviously great, Justin, Johnny was terrific starting the game, his defense, Jules coming in and playing, Tristan getting his first minutes, getting his feet under him, and played great.
It was a contribution by everybody, but I think it's a credit to what we're doing behind the scenes, our work with our player development and the character of our guys.
Q. What can you tell us about Tristan's second game in the NBA?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, he hit a couple threes, good protection at the rim. Thrilled to have him in our program. He's got a high basketball IQ, and we're excited that he's here with us.
Q. I was a little surprised that this was Corey's first career double-double.
BRIAN KEEFE: To be honest with you, wow, I didn't notice it myself. That's something we challenged Corey on about a month ago to start rebounding better, and he's doing that. He's a big physical guy. I didn't realize he had 12, so that's great, a credit to him. But we needed all that. We played these guys a week ago, they scored almost 70 points in the paint. I think they ended up with 46. These guys really executed the game plan tonight.
Q. Obviously got the early big lead. What do you think allowed you guys to kind of stay in and stay calm and not let go there?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think it's the work. I think the things that we're focused on, we're learning how to manage things, be resilient, how to stop runs, stop it with your defense.
We just kept playing possession by possession, and that worked out for us at the end. I think that's the things we're trying to build. We're trying to build habits. Can we be a team that focuses on possession to possession, because that's where we want to go. That's what we want to build.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports