Wizards 122, Nuggets 113.
Q. JP, getting the win, bringing some positive vibes into the locker room, what does that mean to this team?
JORDAN POOLE: Good sign. Really hard to win in this league. Really good team that we played over there on the other side. Championship team, championship-caliber team. So we had a lot of guys who stepped up. It's just a big win for us.
Q. A career high nine threes for you. Obviously a great game. How were you feeling out there, and I'd love to know what the celebration was that you did after that ninth three.
JORDAN POOLE: I should have had more, personally, but just being aggressive. A lot of guys stepped up tonight, which helped, especially when it comes to reading coverages because they were corralling me early, sending two on the ball, so they were making me get it off.
But guys were opening knock-down shots, so whenever we got guys who can spread the floor, spread it out, make some shots, it's hard to continue to blitz or double, and I think a lot of guys stepped up and made shots tonight.
But as for the celly, been waiting to do that one for a while. It was just a little drowning-in-the-pool action. You can call it what you want. But something like that.
Did you like it?
Q. Yeah, I thought it was historical.
JORDAN POOLE: Yeah, I thought that, too. Throw the goggles on there if you want.
Q. You really took over the game tonight --
JORDAN POOLE: Never.
Q. You put in the work in the off-season, really took over the leadership role in the locker room. Is it time to give you the keys?
JORDAN POOLE: Definitely. I think so. Straight to it. I think so. Just getting other guys involved, playing my game. I know we got some guys out so I can be ultra aggressive. Really early in the game, just finding ways to set up my teammates for easy looks. I think that's something big that I learned just over the course of my career. Jokic is pretty similar to that, using the first half to get his other guys easy shots because at the end of the game when coverages tighten up, when coverages are switched and changed, like they threw Russell on me to be really aggressive, tried to take me out of the game, you get guys like J.C., J.B. -- who else? Johnny, Bilal, you get those guys early looks in the first half so that they're comfortable, they got rhythm, and when they start doubling you to get the ball off in the second half, they already seen a couple go through so they can shoot it with some confidence. Just managing the game.
Definitely think it's about that time they give me the keys, though.
Q. You've played in the biggest possible games in this league, but what does it mean to you tonight to be able to help get the young guys a win?
JORDAN POOLE: Just really proud of our group for staying together, for staying engaged. There was a lot of guys who stepped up, and I think that's what I'm most excited about. Some of the guys weren't in the rotation, but in this league guys go down, you've got to be able to step up.
I was just telling Bub after the game, and Bilal, it's amazing to see them out there in crunch time, and to see them learn in real time and be poised and make big plays. BC had a huge block for us to end the game. Bub was out there controlling the pace, especially when they tried to take me off ball.
It's good to see how they perform against championship-caliber teams because that's a great team over there. Granted, they're missing a couple of guys, but when it comes down to the wire and you've got a three-time MVP, those are the ones that you really want to win, and a lot of the practice and a lot of the preparation that we continued to put in and build for the foundation, it's good when you have nights like this, but it's the NBA, so we've got to find a way to do it again tomorrow. Hopefully we can use this momentum to get some more wins and continue to ride this wave.
Q. From the defensive side of things, because the offense was one thing tonight, but defensively you guys still had to contest with what they wanted to do. What did it take in the second half for you all to keep with what the game plan was and continue to execute on the defensive end to be able to deal with what they wanted to try and shift and change from halftime?
JORDAN POOLE: Just stay engaged with the game plan. I think everybody knows that Jokic is such a big part of their offense, and we know he can score, especially me seeing it, matching up against Jokic, in Western Conference Playoffs so many times, he wants to get other guys involved early so that they are comfortable they can knock out -- like knock threes down, floor space, but he's always going to score. Just really staying engaged and locked in with the game plan. He's going to make shots. He's going to make some tough shots. He's going to continue to get to the line. That's just what he does.
But the times that they do miss or the times that we do get stops, we've got to just find a way to convert or get a good look on the other side and we've got to rebound.
I think a lot of guys were able to be locked in. We played team ball tonight, so overall it's just a big win for us.
Q. For you defensively, that's been an area where you've taken that next step this season. What has it been for you to be able to make that jump on the defensive end and be more of a two-way player than just the offensive prowess that you have?
JORDAN POOLE: Yeah, just learning, just growing. I would have loved to learn everything my first year or my second year, but with experience, with years, you always find something to learn on and improve on. That was an area that I felt like I wanted just to up a little bit, to help my team this coming year, and that's something I obviously will continue to work on throughout the course of my career.
But just reading the game a little bit more, knowing the plays, other teams' plays, thinking even if you look they were trying to bring me into some screens throughout the second half, but like you said, being in the Playoffs there's some things that you can kind of switch on the fly to bring up another player, to set somebody else up.
It's just small things like that that you try to get other guys to learn, whoever played at the highest level, and I think we were all really engaged tonight. It was just a good feeling, a good sight to see, and I'm glad we were able to go through that so we've got a measurement of what we can do when we're locked in and engaged, so it was really huge for us tonight.
Q. BK has had a consistent message for the team about preparing right, doing everything the right way, preparing to win sustainably. What does a night like tonight do to cement the importance of that message and help that integrate to the rest of the team?
JORDAN POOLE: Just stick with it, if anything. Obviously we want to win more games. We want to be extremely competitive night in and night out. But through that we're learning. We've got a lot of guys learning. We've got a lot of guys that are in and out. So you don't want to jump ship just because there's a little bit of adversity because everything that we've been getting taught all season just happened to show tonight.
Hopefully it's a good sign. We can find ways to replicate that, continue to be engaged but really embrace this, soak this in and see how we got it done, but it's the league so we've got another 61 more games, so enjoy it, recover, get some rest, and then come back and do it tomorrow against a really good Western Conference team.
Q. You got "MVP" chants near the end of the game. What did that mean to you?
JORDAN POOLE: Fire. Fire. Shout-out to the fans. I've been trying to get them more engaged. I don't think they really understand how much of an impact that they have. Obviously they'll get really engaged if it's a close game or if it's later in the game, but I just try to get them involved just because that brings up the energy in the arena. Indiana's fans are like this, Cleveland's fans are like this, and I know our fan base is better than that. I know a lot of people want to come in and wear nice outfits and go on dates and stuff, but they've got to stand up. So find a way to get them engaged. It's just huge for us. I play a lot of 2K, so hearing some MVP chants, it was kind of cool when an MVP was on the floor, so it was dope.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports