Knicks 126, Wizards 106
Q. Most important thing, how is Bub doing, and how is he feeling?
BRIAN KEEFE: He's feeling okay. Obviously he took a pretty hard fall there in that second half. He hit the ground pretty hard. But he's doing okay.
Q. Do you know whether he was knocked out on the floor, whether he was unconscious for --
BRIAN KEEFE: No, he was not knocked out. I was right there.
Q. What was it like having Kuz back?
BRIAN KEEFE: Always great to have all of our guys back. Great for him; he's put a lot of work in to get back to where he was, so I thought his conditioning looked good for having not played in a while. It was good to have him back out there.
Q. What do you think allowed them to get separation in the second half?
BRIAN KEEFE: I thought they won a lot of the 50/50 battles. We made them miss some shots and they made some really good hustle plays that led to some threes, I thought. They really made some great hustle plays that I thought kind of changed the game there.
Q. With Kyle, was 21 minutes his limit for today?
BRIAN KEEFE: It was in that range, yeah.
Q. Do you anticipate that continuing for the near future?
BRIAN KEEFE: To be determined.
Q. With the strategy of leaving Alex as a rover and Justin on Towns, how did you feel like that played out in the second game?
BRIAN KEEFE: I thought it was actually pretty good for the most part. We wanted the right people taking shots. We just didn't do a good job on the boards. That was one of the biggest issues. And we probably fouled a little bit too much. But for the most part, we did what we wanted to do. That kept us in the game for most of it, then they just went on a run and that kind of ended the game.
Q. With Kyle did you sense any fatigue? Did you sense any struggle as he gets back into rhythm?
BRIAN KEEFE: No, I thought he was actually -- it's impressive he hasn't played in I don't know exactly how long it's been, but he was looking in great shape. He was moving, getting to the basket well. I thought he looked good.
Q. He's talked about the adjusted role he has, less on-ball stuff, more cutting, off-ball actions. Did you feel like he has acclimated to that a little bit more with some time away?
BRIAN KEEFE: He was playing well before the injury, so he was playing good basketball before. I thought he was aggressive tonight, got downhill, does what he does.
Q. The game was close at the end of the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter. What do you think made the difference in the fourth?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, I think it was a little bit their hustle plays. We went cold a little bit from the field a little bit, but they kind of just willed some 50/50 balls, some offensive rebounds, and they made some key threes off that that I thought kind of changed the game, and we had a little bit of turnovers, missed shots that kind of changed the game.
Q. Alex has been shooting very well from deep lately. What do you attribute that to?
BRIAN KEEFE: Just his work. Just the time he puts into his craft. He's a very serious guy, very diligent worker. Put a lot of time into that.
Q. Going up against a guy like Karl-Anthony Towns, there were a couple plays in the second half where Towns backed him down and was able to get a shot close to the rim. Towns was also somewhat skinny when he came into the league but he beefed up over the course of his career. Is that something you think Alex should strive for over the next few years?
BRIAN KEEFE: I have no worry about where Alex will get to. He's going to continue to grow and get better. Like he's just in the first 30 games of his NBA career. He's showing growth each game, each month, each week. He'll get bigger, stronger and learn how to guard all these guys as it goes. That's part of the process of learning the NBA -- I've said this before with a lot of the guys; you've got to go through the fire. He's going through the fire and he's learning a lot from it, and he's getting better.
Q. With the work that he's put in with the three-pointer, can you give us a little bit more insight into what he's done that's led to the on-court improvements?
BRIAN KEEFE: I'm not going to give away state secrets, but nice try.
Q. Is it just pure reps? Is it something he's changed with his technique? Is it just getting used to NBA arenas?
BRIAN KEEFE: You're not going to get that answer from me.
Q. Brunson shot 6 for 17 tonight. What was the defense like for him after scoring 55 last game?
BRIAN KEEFE: It's always a little bit of combination of both. I thought we did a decent job on him. We contested him pretty well. But he probably missed some shots that he would normally make.
The game before he probably made some really tough ones. It's always a little bit of both.
I thought we tried to mix up things so he couldn't be as aggressive tonight, to make other guys shoot the ball. We kind of forced other guys to shoot the ball a little bit more tonight, and that was working in our favor for a good portion of the game. We just didn't rebound the ball well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports