Wizards 133, Hawks 120
Q. 16 rebounds tonight, six assists. Can you talk about your all-around play tonight?
BUB CARRINGTON: Can I talk about my all-around play? I scored, I passed, I rebounded. I think I did those things well, helped us win today.
Q. What do you think changed in the psychology of the team, the psyche of the team first the first and second half, and how much do you think practice impacted that?
BUB CARRINGTON: Yeah, the halftime adjustment was really just buy into what we do. I felt like we were playing pretty frantically, weren't playing our brand of basketball.
The message at halftime was just be us, lock in on the defensive end and things will open up offensively, and to tie into your next question, that's kind of all we've been practicing, as well, just trying to game plan, scheme against teams and how we're going to guard them. We're a big defensive team, so really just kind of cleaning up the defensive end, letting that open up our offense.
Q. Bub, were you aware that you led the rookie class in scoring coming into the game?
BUB CARRINGTON: No, I was told like five minutes ago.
Q. You doubled your average tonight with 16, so you obviously were feeding off your teammates. Can you talk about if any teammates specifically were really conducive to you scoring like you did tonight?
BUB CARRINGTON: Really, our bigs and the ball screens and our passing, like all of our bigs are really good at that, and then JP, as well, I think he had maybe seven or eight assists. I don't know if any of them were necessarily to me, but his passing definitely opened up the floor a lot. Like I said, his ability kind of just to get by someone and create for others is really underrated.
Q. Bilal put up a career high 27 tonight. Can you speak on his performance and what you saw?
BUB CARRINGTON: Yeah, Bilal is amazing. He has an unbelievable mindset, unbelievable mentality. He's always on go. He's always ready for the action. Good things are going to happen for him when he keeps his head down.
Q. Seemed like in the second half that you got more comfortable. You started to initiate the offense a little bit more. Is that how you felt on the floor?
BUB CARRINGTON: Yeah, yeah, I definitely felt myself kind of adjusting in the right direction as the game goes on, as the games go on, as minutes go, I feel like I'm definitely learning and learning and learning and getting more comfortable with every game.
Q. Where do you feel that comfort most?
BUB CARRINGTON: Where?
Q. Like do you feel it in your driving --
BUB CARRINGTON: I would really say kind of when the ball is in my hands. Like you mentioned earlier, like initiating the offense, I kind of just feel comfortable naturally just table setting, if that makes sense.
Q. There were a couple times where you took some hard fouls, got up, very fiery. What were you thinking in that moment and what does that mentality do for a team?
BUB CARRINGTON: What was I thinking? I wasn't really thinking. But that mentality, kind of just that mentality that we're going to bring it. Obviously people know -- people kind of have that thought on what the Wizards are going to be and what Wizards basketball is, and I'm trying to bring a mentality to where guys are wrong. Coming in just to prove people wrong and prove that we're not a team to just look over.
Q. What do you want the Wizards' mentality to be?
BUB CARRINGTON: We play tough, relentless, and we have fun at the end of the day.
Q. In the moment, do you let yourself think about the future when you see that you start alongside Kyshawn and Alex and Bilal, all people who are also 19 and 20?
BUB CARRINGTON: Yeah, one of our coaches actually mentioned it today in shootaround earlier, and they were like, we're starting a lineup where a lot of you can't drink. It was kind of just mindboggling, like yeah, we're in the NBA and we've got a really young group. Like you mentioned, it kind of brought me to think about the future. If we stay with it, stay at it, we could be like a really good group that kind of grows up with each other.
Q. To that point, how gratifying or rewarding is it to see early results, game 4 for all of you?
BUB CARRINGTON: Yeah, it means a lot. Bilal getting career highs, Kyshawn and Alex getting more comfortable. It means a lot to see that we're young; we're on a team that might be overlooked a lot, but we're still producing. We're still finding a way to win games. It means a lot if you really think about it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports