Cavaliers 118, Wizards 87
BRIAN KEEFE: Really the first quarter they came out and hit us in the mouth, and it took us a while to fight back. I thought we fought back at the start of the second quarter. They had about five points for the first five minutes, but we couldn't really overcome that first quarter. We had to bring it the whole game. Give credit to them.
Q. Do you feel like your team didn't bring it the whole game tonight?
BRIAN KEEFE: I just think the start, the first quarter -- first quarters are really important in the NBA. We came out, they gave us a good test. The rest of the game until the very end was relatively tied, but that 15-point difference made a difference.
Q. Was it offensively? Was it defensively that just didn't allow you guys to catch your footing in that first quarter?
BRIAN KEEFE: A little bit of both. They got some good rhythm shots, which we probably didn't have enough pressure on, and then we had some turnovers that led to some easy baskets. So it was a little bit on both ends.
Q. What can it be if there is an answer to it, that if you go through the scouting report, you go through everything in the prep, and then that first quarter isn't where you want things to be? Is there something that can be tweaked with --
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, I thought we had the competitive response. I think you saw it in the second quarter. Like I said, we held them to like five points for a long time. We just couldn't make a shot to kind of capitalize on that to really put us in. It was a 10-point game and then they closed the quarter well, also. So we just couldn't put enough stretches, but the guys were fighting. A lot of credit to the guys who came off the bench tonight, Richaun, Jared, Anthony. Those guys came out and gave us some great energy, some good fight. Happy for them.
Q. Season high in turnovers; what went wrong on offense?
BRIAN KEEFE: We've got to give them a little credit. They're a good defensive team. We played in crowds too much, and then we did miss some wide-open shots. But we probably did force it a little bit too much, and that led to some of our turnovers.
Q. Any updates on Corey, Malcolm --
BRIAN KEEFE: No updates, no.
Q. When you lose three guys very quickly, very succinctly, how much can that throw things off, especially for you with your rotations?
BRIAN KEEFE: The one thing that's great about our guys is there's a lot of work behind the scenes. Rich hasn't played much, but you can see all the work Rich has done behind the scenes. He was ready to play, and he really gave us great contribution. Jared, AG, same thing. Those guys have been training behind the scenes and not getting a lot of minutes. When their number was called, they stepped up and played well.
Q. I call those opportunity minutes for guys like that, and for them to come in and still compete, I know Will and Michael talked about bringing veterans in there that play like that, but that really has to say something about these guys when the game is out of hand like that and they're still competing.
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, I've said this, we have really high-character guys on our team, and that's revealing itself right now in these tough moments. Some guys don't always get the chance to play, and they're doing all the things behind the scenes, practicing, keeping care of their bodies, working on their games, and thin when their opportunity was called tonight, they stepped up and they helped us. They brought a physicality to the game. Not surprised; that's who those guys are.
Q. With Corey, what does it say about his toughness, that he suffers an injury, hits the two free throws and then comes out of the game?
BRIAN KEEFE: This is who Corey is. He's the ultimate professional. Was not shocked or surprised. Hopefully he'll be okay.
Q. 31-point margin of defeat, the largest this season. Are there any concerns about the team's competitiveness or spirit after a game like this?
BRIAN KEEFE: No. Our character is there. We had a tough go in the first quarter, and I thought our guys responded well to that. We didn't make some shots and we had some turnovers, but there was fight, and especially those guys who came off the bench when we shot shorthanded came in and really fought. Credit to our guys there.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports