Wizards 133, Hawks 120
Q. Bilal, career high tonight. What kind of looks were you seeing that enabled you to score more points than you scored before?
BILAL COULIBALY: I mean, I had a lot of open looks. First of all, my teammates found me well like in transition, open threes, so it made my game going, so it was pretty easy to get in.
Q. You've talked about how you wanted to improve your ball handling coming into the year. Would you say that's the biggest jump you've made is ball handling, or have you improved your outside shooting or defense most since last season?
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah I'd say probably my ball handling got way better. It just helps me to be better on court. Like it's way easier to play now. Still got to work on it, but yeah, I feel like I'm way better.
Q. When you say your ball handling is better, what specifically about it is better? Is it tighter? Is it smoother?
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah, tighter. Like I can feel that I control the ball every time. It's not far away from my body and everything. Even when I'm handling the pick-and-rolls and everything, I feel way more confident; don't even need to look at the ball or anything. So yeah.
Q. You set career highs in points twice now this season. What can you say about the success you've been having early in the season?
BILAL COULIBALY: I mean, I'm just doing my things. I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do. Hitting open shots, finding my teammates. They find me, too. It just makes the game easier.
Q. What can you say about your defense in the second half against Trae? He had a great first half. Second half you were able to play more and he didn't do as well.
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah, I just came in locked in. I saw that he had a lot of points first half, so I was like, now it's time to turn it up.
Q. Going into this game you are really improving, so can you talk about the off-season work that you put in and how that affected you during the Olympics, as well?
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah, even during the Olympics I was working out a lot because I was not playing that much, so I had the time to work out. Yeah, I really focused on my angle, like I was saying, my catch and shoot and everything. Even after that, I took a little break, but got right back at it, and yeah, feels like I'm way better now.
Q. Alex has had multiple blocks in every game so far to start his career. What can you say about his impact on defense?
BILAL COULIBALY: I'm not going to lie; he be saving us sometimes. We'd get like passed every time, and he's just right behind to block the shot, so I'm really happy for him. That's what I've been trying to tell him at the beginning of the year: Just help us. Sometimes you're going to get drive by, so you've got to be there and help us.
Q. How big has just the offense from Jordan Poole been, especially early in games?
BILAL COULIBALY: Insane, man. So happy for him. He's been putting in a lot of work this summer, too. We called each other so many times this summer. I'm just proud of him. He deserves it.
Q. You said you called each other a lot this summer?
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah. He was even in Paris at some point. We were going to football games and everything, soccer games.
Q. What role do you think the defensive game plan played especially towards the end of the game or the second half of the game?
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah, we made some change. I'm not going to lie; even first half we had kind of the same things, but we were not really executing what we were supposed to do. Yeah, we came back second half and was really locked in, like bigs were talking, guards was really like in the right spots and everything, so it just made the game easier for everybody defensively.
Q. What can you say about the role that confidence has played in your early season?
BILAL COULIBALY: I feel like it's the main thing. Basketball is for me probably 60 percent basketball skills and 40 percent confidence. I'd consider that right now because I'm really confident right now and I'm playing well. You've just got to be locked in mentally, talk whenever you've got problems and everything, and it's just going to make the game way easier.
Q. What moments do you feel that increased confidence in?
BILAL COULIBALY: Right now just having good games definitely increases my confidence, but just talking to my teammates, they talk to me a lot. They tell me that they believe in me. My coaches, too. So I'm just like, man, everybody believes in me; I've got to believe in myself. So yeah, that's what makes me believe in myself.
Q. Speaking of the Olympics, how has your experience been competing with the French national team this summer laid the foundation for your goals this season?
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah, I learned a lot this summer. It was really special. The Olympics, man, we came back with a medal, too, so yeah, I learned a lot next to Nicolas Batum who's been texting me, still texting me. All the guys, Rudy, all of them great guys, they taught me a lot this summer, and yeah, came back, put the work in, and feel good now and confident.
Q. Do you think you had the same level with your national team teammate Wembanyama tonight?
BILAL COULIBALY: I'm not comparing myself to him. Yeah, he's really good.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports