Bucks 124, Wizards 114
BRIAN KEEFE: Good, competitive game tonight. Tried different laps, different combinations. Obviously played our two bigs out there to kind of match their size. Liked how we played the game throughout. Battled some adversity throughout. Made it a really close game down the stretch. Just had a couple turnovers that kind of changed the game. Prince hit a tough shot that kind of turned it a little bit.
But liked our fight, liked our grit, liked our competitiveness tonight. I thought we did some really positive stuff.
Q. You mentioned matching their size with the way that you started with both Alex and J.B. How did you like the way that that unit built chemistry as the game began because it seemed like they were flowing really well?
BRIAN KEEFE: Not bad, yeah. That's the first time that that group had played together with Malcolm, too. I haven't seen that lineup a lot. Probably actually at all this year to be honest. I thought they did a good job. They had a little tough stretch and then we settled the game and we were calm and composed and I liked our size out there. I thought our defense was decent was that lineup.
Q. Malcolm and JP were both very aggressive getting into the paint and getting into the teeth of the defense. What did you like from them setting that type of tone early versus settling for outside shots?
BRIAN KEEFE: That's how we want to play, downhill, attacking the rim. Those are two key guys who can do that, and that leads to other guys getting shots. That's always my biggest thing with those guys is be aggressive, be aggressive, just score, because that's going to get your teammates shots. We want to keep putting pressure on the rim. That opens up shots for others, so I thought those two did a great job of that tonight.
Q. With Bilal, it was another pretty quiet game for him. How are you seeing him adjust to the rigors of having to do it on both ends every night?
BRIAN KEEFE: Some of that's we have different combinations that are playing together now, so some of that's lineup combinations he's getting used to. Played a lineup we hadn't played before, and that's a totally different thing for him, too. Not worried about him at all. Defense was impressive still. Lillard hit some tough shots, but I thought in the second half he really made him work. I think he only hit one three in the second half. He got fouled on a couple ones early that would have changed a little bit of his rhythm that they acknowledged, too.
But the defense was there tonight.
Q. With Alex, he kind of got the assignment it seemed like for both of the game, dealing with Giannis, as difficult as that can be. There were some times he looked pretty great with his defense, figuring things out. What did you think of the way he allowed the game to flow through him defensively even if there were times he got beat but just next play, next play?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, this is a great player. There's no hiding this guy is one of the best players in the league, maybe one of the best players ever. So great assignment for him. He thought he got him a couple times, but I thought Alex got him at the rim, cut him off, made him shoot some pull-ups, and then he was helping off others, too, so it wasn't just guarding him. He was able to come in and help off of Lillard, control the paint, use his size to help other people, too. I thought it was a pretty decent showing for his first time guarding him.
Q. There was a couple of times where it seemed like the rotations were where they needed to be. One was where Alex went up to help and J.B. came in for that second rotation. Are those the details that you want to see built upon, the positive details that you're seeing from these guys?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, those are like big helping bigs, kind of those big help rotations. They were doing a good job of that tonight when they got stretch big and we had to be flying around a little bit with Lillard out there, too. But like I said, first time playing that unit together like that. I thought we saw some good things out of it, though.
Q. When you look at the macro sense of rebuilding, how do you gauge the impact of a game where you guys play close, you had a really productive game, but a lot of contributions are coming from vets? Is that something that helps with the culture long-term? Is there something the young guys saw in this game that could help them down the line that maybe doesn't show up on the stat sheet?
BRIAN KEEFE: Well, yes, our veterans scored a lot of points for sure. They helped us in that regard. I think Bilal played 36 minutes. I think Alex played 30. I my Kyshawn and Bub got a decent amount of minutes.
Just because you're maybe not always the focal point offensively, there's so much stuff that's going on in the game when you're playing against a high-level team like this. To me, yes, our older players contributed offensively a little bit more, but other guys still played a lot of minutes, a lot of good growth out there. Alex hit a huge three late. That was great. And Bilal was out there the whole game guarding their best perimeter player. I think a lot of good growth for our team in all regards for all of our players.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports