Celtics - 112, Wizards - 98
Q. First of all, what do you think made the difference today?
BRIAN KEEFE: They played more intense than us in the first half, but our guys surely responded in the second. Our defense, our physicality, our rebounding, we turned them over 13 times. I give our guys a lot of credit for answering the bell in the second half.
Terrific effort. We've just got to do it for the whole game. We started well, but we had a tough stretch there in the end of the first through the second a little bit. Good finish to the second quarter.
We came out with some intent on our defense, and we made it hard on them. Then we started playing our brand of basketball in the second half.
Q. 20 shot attempts for Bilal. What did you think about his aggressiveness?
BRIAN KEEFE: I love his aggressiveness. The only thing I'm concerned with Bilal, second game in a row, his free-throw attempts. He's our number one driver. He drives the ball in the paint. He did not take a free-throw tonight. We took one free-throw in the first half. We took just as many shots in the paint at the rim as they did, and that's actually not their game, and we had 1, they had 16.
We're going to continue for Bilal to put his head down and get to the rim. He will eventually get there, but something has to change.
Q. Can you speak to Justin's willingness to guard bigger players?
BRIAN KEEFE: Justin's got a lot of fight. That's who he is. He's a competitor. We can switch him onto different matchups. Obviously the rebounding stood out tonight. He had 14.
It was really our defensive energy in the second half. That's what got us in the game, the fight. That's what we've been showing lately. Just didn't do it for a little stretch there at the end of the second. I mean, end of the first, beginning of the second.
Q. How much of the current slump that the team is in is because of injuries and how much of it is deeper than that?
BRIAN KEEFE: Never use the injuries. We've got guys who are capable of playing, who are playing better basketball. The defense is getting better. We're playing more to how we want to play faster, getting more threes up. I think we're trending in the right direction.
We always welcome bodies back because I want everyone to play, but we never use that here.
Q. With the foul disparity, do you think it's lack of respect by the referees for younger players on the team? What do you think contributes to this?
BRIAN KEEFE: I'm not going to guess up here. That's not my job to do. I'm just stating what happened.
Q. We talked pregame about the five offensive ball handlers that they have. What did you see from it in game about its effectiveness? Then what do you like about where your team is in the process of trying to get to that?
BRIAN KEEFE: We're getting closer. I also talked about five guys who can defend, which they can. We also showed, when we play with that intent, when you have physicality like we did in the second half, we can defend top offensive teams two games in a row. We can show really good stretches. We've got to do it longer, and we've got to do it better.
That's our challenge, and that's what we're here to do. We've got a couple days of practice here to get better. Our guys showed what we're capable of being offensively against an elite offensive team. We did that obviously a little bit versus Cleveland too at times.
Some improvement. Getting better. We're always going to ask for more because our players want that. They want to keep improving.
Q. What have you thought about the multiple ball handlers that you guys are trying to integrate?
BRIAN KEEFE: It's great. We want guys attacking. That's how we're going to grow our team. We're still in that growth phase. So Bilal getting every rep he can get. Alex handling the ball and pushing. Those are all things that are going to help us as we continue to push through the season and develop the identity we want to play and the style we want to play.
Q. Did you see the dropoff, at least in terms of performance, when you had to break the lineup?
BRIAN KEEFE: What do you mean, like substitution?
Q. Yes.
BRIAN KEEFE: No, I didn't feel that -- we extended some of our guys a little bit more minutes. Those guys have been great. Like we had a nice push from a lot of those guys in Cleveland. Hey, we brought in Marv. Marvin gave us a great push at the start of the third quarter. Alex got into foul trouble. We wanted to try Marv out. Gave us a lot of good energy.
All of our guys have contributed. Johnny had a big contribution the other night. Sometimes teams just go on runs. That happens. Sometimes it's lineup. Sometimes it's just what happens during a game. But all of our guys have been contributing.
Q. I see that Jonas played nine minutes. Was that because of the spacing that Boston had in terms of that kind of matchup?
BRIAN KEEFE: A little bit was -- he was fine. Alex got a quick foul there at the start of the third. I didn't want to put Jonas in right away to break his rotation. And Marvin just played well, and we just kept him out there. Then it was Alex's turn to come back.
Nothing to do with the way Jonas played. It was one of those games where Alex got a fall and we wanted to give Marvin a look early, and he produced when we did.
Q. This new starting five you guys have with Justin at the 4 has been really effective for you guys. What have you liked about that combination of players?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think it's our growth as a team. We're getting back to how we want to play. We want to defend. We want to rebound. Then we want to play with pace.
I thought we played with much more pace in the second half. Our rebounding was better. We were able to get out in transition and kick the ball ahead, but that always starts with our defense. I think Justin gives us some stability with that and his physicality on defense and rebounding.
Q. With the league adjustments, is he someone carving out a role for himself even when some players come back from injury?
BRIAN KEEFE: This is why he's here. We value all of our guys. Justin's earned an opportunity. We'll evaluate that when guys come back.
Q. What can young players learn going through tough stretches like this?
BRIAN KEEFE: How to have resiliency. How to have stick-to-itiveness. How to show up every day. I think that's what is the NBA that a lot of people don't realize. NBA is a daunting challenge, lots of games.
I think you can develop a lot in these situations: How you want to play, your growth in your own game, fighting through tough times for yourself and as teammates.
You can see that's what our team does. We challenged them at halftime. They came out and produced. So we have a group that wants to get better.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports