Bulls 129, Wizards 127
BRIAN KEEFE: I'll go first before you start. Just wanted to thank our fans. Our team has really grown tremendously in the last couple months, and we can feel the support, the energy that they've given us. We're really thankful for that, have tremendous gratitude for them. You can feel the energy in the building, can feel it in the community when you're out. So I'm very thankful for them. We'll miss not having another home game. Thank you to the fans. They've been terrific, really supportive around the team.
On to the questions.
Q. This team has really responded to you. Just overall you're seeing a whole new team under you. Looking forward, a lot of people think that we already have our head coach in the building. Is that the goal for you?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think you've probably heard me answer this. We have another game. My sole focus has been on our group, on our team, to keep us progressing. I haven't thought quite about that stuff yet because I've been so engrossed with trying to help our team improve and trying to help our team get better, which I think we have.
We have another game on Sunday, and we're going to throw everything we have into our energy. But that's what we're going to do. My focus has been solely about how do we help our group get better, and I'm going to continue to do that. We have another game, another day tomorrow to prepare, so we're excited for our challenge on Sunday at Boston.
Q. Vukcevic, defensively what do you want to see him work on in the off-season?
BRIAN KEEFE: This is great learning for him. Like he's getting in end-of-game situations, real live situations for us. I think I've said, we're discovering parts of his game offensively and defensively. I like his rim protection. He's big. He's physical. He's not afraid to mix it up in there. He's learning our coverages and our schemes with not a lot of practice, to be honest. He got thrown right into the mix, but it's nice that he wants to be part of our program, and I think we've seen some growth with his time. I've been really thrilled that he's part of us.
Q. Chicago was up five there in the last couple minutes. You guys battled back, it came down to the last possession. What do you think ultimately tipped it in favor of the Bulls?
BRIAN KEEFE: We just couldn't get stops in the fourth. We had a little trouble getting stops throughout the game, but when the game got tight, they made a couple drives to the basket that we probably didn't love. But we made a nice little comeback at the end and we put ourselves in position with a free throw and obviously Corey there at the end, which got a great look, and we'd trust him to shoot that again.
I liked how we kept playing until the final whistle. That's been I think a trademark that we've seen, and that's what we want to continue to see going forward.
Q. Was that last play designed for Corey to get that shot specifically?
BRIAN KEEFE: There were a couple different options. I don't want to give it all away because someone might look at the film with that, but he was an option, and I liked the option we got out of that.
Q. Deni has run the point before this season, but I think this might have been the first game where he started running the point. What went into that decision?
BRIAN KEEFE: Wanted to see that -- obviously with Jordan not playing tonight, wanted to see Deni handling the ball more. We know how much of a play maker he can be but we wanted to see him in the lead play maker role. I thought he did a tremendous job getting his teammates involved. We always love his rebounding. I think he ended up having 12. But that's part of what makes Deni good is his versatility, so we were excited to see what that would look like, and I thought he did really well in that position.
Q. How did Deni handle that newish offensive role and how do you think his defense stacked up?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think he was fine. Deni always guards the better guys. I didn't think we were great defensively as a whole tonight. This was a little bit of an offensive game for both teams, so that was something that we talked about, that we want to keep growing in that area. But I thought Deni handled the whole game well. Really good job.
Q. Pat Baldwin had a great shooting night and Johnny Davis shot the ball well tonight, too. What did you see from those guys, and do you envision them playing in Summer League this summer?
BRIAN KEEFE: I don't know the answers to some of those questions, but the one thing I know about both those guys is I've watched them throughout the year, the tremendous amount of work they've put in behind the scenes, with the Go-Go, with us, and I think you're seeing the fruit of that here at the end. That's what we want for our team, that's what we want for our individual players. Both those guys have gotten better, both those guys have improved, especially defensively. I know they made shots tonight, but the stuff that we value, the dirty work, the rebounding, guarding the best players, those guys have grown, and they made shots tonight, which is always great. Their development has been really nice to see this year.
Q. Another game where Tristan got to the free-throw line quite a bit. What do you think he's done in the last few games to generate free throws?
BRIAN KEEFE: He's a pretty smart player. He understands angles. He understands how to use his body to get to the free-throw line, understands when you're in the bonus. This guy has got a pretty good basketball IQ. We like his aggressiveness, but he started off the game well with some free throw attempts early, and that helped.
Q. Corey finished the game with six assists. How did you feel about his ability to shoulder an offensive load? He and Deni had to do a lot as the primary offensive guys.
BRIAN KEEFE: Those guys are our guys who attack and get into the paint, so I think that's continued good growth for Corey. Obviously the shooting is what stands out, but his ability to get into the paint and attack and finish, now that next layer is he was finding people on the perimeter, passing, dump-off, kick-outs for threes. These are the next evolution for him, and we've been seeing that with his opportunities growing here late, but this guy is a good offensive player.
Q. What do you hope that the younger players take out of this final stretch of games as the season comes to a close?
BRIAN KEEFE: These are great experiences, playing against -- we played in a lot of close games, fourth quarter games, but taking advantage of the opportunity. I think that's the thing that I've been really pleased about with them, is that when their opportunity has been throughout the year, they've seized the moment and continued to grow. This matters. We've got one more game. We're going out there to Boston to go to play. Like we want to grow and get better and make it a great competitive game, and that's what we're looking forward to doing.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports