Clippers 121, Wizards 96
Q. It wasn't that long ago you were a first- or second-year player. How do you ensure when you're only a fourth-year player, how do you make sure you and your other young teammates don't let this back up to such a degree on all of you that you hinders your development?
COREY KISPERT: Yeah, I mean, when you're in our position organizationally and also in this current part of the season, this kind of -- the stuff that we're going through really tests you mentally and physically and emotionally, and you have to keep reminding yourself that the really good players and the great ones in this league and even in life don't run away from hard times. You run to them.
Hard times like this that we're in is what develops strong character and helps you move forward. I am a fourth-year player. I consider myself to still be young. But I have been through a lot of stuff in the league, and I've seen a lot of things, and I've been through a lot with this organization.
Hard times like these I can harken back on the times before and help it lead me. I'm still not perfect. Like what we're going through is really wearing on all of us, including myself. But I have the luxury of experience and I have the luxury of going through times like this, and it's my responsibility to help people who don't -- on our team who don't have the experience that I do to stay with it.
It's going to break, and it's going to turn, but we don't have necessarily all of the luxuries of deciding when it will turn, and you have to keep working hard and keep developing and keep pushing until it does. That's the only choice we have.
Q. Malcolm was talking yesterday about how he felt the need to speak up after the game because he implied that some people were feeling discouraged essentially. How do you notice when that's happening, and how do you try to stave that off as you're going through a tough part of the season?
COREY KISPERT: It's an easy thing to tell. Body language is a huge thing. A lot of people get quiet when things aren't going well, and the credit goes to Malcolm for speaking up, because he did, and we need him to be that for us. When he speaks, people listen. He's a level-headed dude. He brings a calm energy.
He was one of the bright spots for us today without a doubt. His consistent play is a reason why there's still a lot of hope within this organization.
Guys like Malcolm, there's a reason why -- there are more reasons than one why he's stuck around for so long, and it's because he's really, really good, because also people gravitate towards him and his energy is infectious. We're going to be looking at Malcolm a lot for words like that and moments like that.
Q. After the Knicks game, BK had some pretty critical words for you guys and you agreed with them. Did you sense some of those same issues with the competitiveness crop up today?
COREY KISPERT: Yeah, absolutely. Like there's a grown man element to the game that happened today. I'm glad a lot of us are pissed and upset with how the game went today. It can be very easy to be in a slide like we're in and feel numb, and that's not the way we feel at all. We have a lot of emotional guys in the locker room up and down the roster. That's the first thing you look for, are guys responding and acting accordingly in the locker room, and we are.
I fully expect all of us to continue to compete and to bring an extra level to our personal level of competitiveness because getting beat like this does not feel good. If it feels like anything but horrible to you, then you've got to really kind of wonder why you're here.
Q. Before the season there was discussion about the cultural deposits you guys made as an organization, how they might help during these trying times. First extended bit of adversity this season. How have you noticed this team react to it differently than previous teams have?
COREY KISPERT: Yeah, there's a lot less finger pointing. There's a lot less blame. There's a lot less negativity. That's the start.
We continue to encourage each other, and we continue to build each other up, both across the entire locker room but also privately in one-on-one conversations. That's the key.
Things are bad. Things are -- we're in a big skid and we're struggling, but things aren't toxic. There's a big difference between the two.
Q. You guys shot 24 percent from three tonight. Do you feel like that was the defense, or you guys were just missing open looks?
COREY KISPERT: We were missing open looks. We had a lot of them, myself included. There's a lot of reasons why you miss open looks. I don't think putting in the work is one of them for any of us.
You'd be -- you guys could sit in the gym all day and marvel at how much our team works and how much reps we put in and how much effort we put in. But the way the ball bounces on the rim and the way shots kind of work is attached to energy and attached to rhythm, and it's a dance more than anything.
Tonight we were kind of off in our dance steps, and it shows in the stat sheet. It's shown on the nights when we don't shoot it well. When you're on the floor and you're watching the game, you can kind of feel how stuck things are and how out of rhythm we can be, and when you are, it takes a really, really special night. Anybody in the league can attest to that. It takes a really special night shooting the ball to kind of pull you out of that rhythm, or pull you out of that lack of rhythm.
Q. As one of the better shooters in the league, what is your mentality around shooting slumps, how you feel you can snap out of it?
COREY KISPERT: For me, shooting slumps are extremely frustrating. The main key for me is to fight that frustration within myself and get back to my center a lot faster because if you feel tense and you feel angry on the inside, that energy that you have is transferred to the ball and that ball tends to not go in. So you have to play free. You have to play without any reservations. Before you know it, you're going to snap out of it.
It's on us as a team to get guys out of shooting slumps. It's on us as a team to get ourselves out of the shooting slump that we're in as a whole group. There's things that you can do schematically and X's and O's wise, but you've got to trust your shot first and foremost and then let the chips fall where they may because we all work our asses off getting shots up in the gym, so it's just a matter of time before the rhythm matches up and we're off and running.
Q. Just how painful has this been for the team this stretch?
COREY KISPERT: I mean, it's still really, really early, but to run into this much adversity early stinks and stings. It's testing the culture that we've put in, the deposits that we've implemented. But there's still a lot of positivity within the room, and there's still a lot of encouragement and positive attitudes within the room, as well.
While things are tough, they're not toxic and not unbearable. We had a lot of really bright spots tonight. Alex continues to play well. Malcolm played great, Jonas played great. Those bright spots kind of provide energy for the rest of the roster because it can be anybody's night at any moment, so we're all hopefully for that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports