Pistons 96, Wizards 87
Q. What did you see in the fourth quarter offensively? Was it just a case of you guys expending a lot of energy in the third, and did the Pistons dial up their defense in the fourth?
BRIAN KEEFE: You hit it on the head. We didn't start the game properly. We didn't start the game with the right mindset, and that's on me. I didn't have the team ready to come out and compete and play the way that we have.
They responded in the second half. We played better. But too little, too late. You've got to play a full 40-minute game. Defense got tired for both teams. Both teams had a hard time scoring. But that game was decided in the first half. We waited too long, and that's on me.
Q. In hindsight how big was it to have at least Corey going the way that he was in the first half?
BRIAN KEEFE: Corey kept us in the game with his offense for a while, but we let go. We didn't defend properly. In the first quarter we were okay. In the second quarter our defense got a little off, but then we responded in the second half. I'll give our guys credit. They answered the challenge.
Like I said, we waited too long, and the NBA is a long game. We made a good comeback, but we didn't start the proper way.
Q. Why do you take responsibility for that?
BRIAN KEEFE: Because it's me. I'm the leader of the team. It's my group. I'm always going to take responsibility for not having us ready to go. We need to be better than that, and I need to be better than that.
Q. To what do you attribute the 19 turnovers?
BRIAN KEEFE: Playing in crowds, not sharing the ball as much as we would have liked, over-penetrating, missing some open passes. I think some of them were well-intentioned, some of them we just kind of threw not in the direction of our teammates. Sometimes they went to the opponent. But I think we over-penetrated.
Q. When Kyle and Jordan struggle to get going from the field like they did tonight, how does that change the entire makeup of the game?
BRIAN KEEFE: Guys are going to have good shooting nights and they're going to have bad shooting nights. That shouldn't affect how you play the game. We battled back without having a good shooting night. We ended up shooting, what, 27 percent from three from guys who usually shoot really well. I believe those guys will come back and shoot the ball well, so credit to our team to battle through that and show some toughness to battle through some adversity and make it a fourth quarter game. But like I said, we didn't have the proper disposition, and that's on me to start the game.
Q. I know playing fast is something the team prides itself on, playing with pace, and I think four fast break points tonight. Is that something in light of four fast break points you're going to hammer extra hard going into Miami on Sunday?
BRIAN KEEFE: We always want to defend and rebound and play with pace. I thought in the first half we actually played decently fast and we just didn't make great decisions in transition. Second half they made some plays at the rim in transition.
But yeah, we didn't come out and share the ball as much as we would have liked and get to the proper spacing.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports