Wizards 125, Bulls 107
Q. How did your team accomplish this tonight and what did you like?
BRIAN KEEFE: I loved our defensive intensity. Our ability to fly around, get deflections, caused some turnovers. They missed some shots they normally make, too, I've got to be honest, but I thought we were flying out at them. Then we sustained a run, I don't know the exact score in that third quarter, but we pushed the lead back up and then we moved the ball. 36 assists, really shared it. Good examples of how we want to play.
Q. I know there are a lot of players who made contributions tonight, but seemed like the game Bub had is a kind of all-around game that you think you can produce. How did he do that?
BRIAN KEEFE: He's been doing that for a while. This is why we have him. It's his versatility defensively, his rebounding, his ability to see the floor, obviously his shot making, too. He has a good all-around game. We saw that last year obviously in Pittsburgh and that was one of the reasons we really liked him, and he's showing that stuff in games.
Q. How did things transpire with Bilal that led to him leaving the game?
BRIAN KEEFE: Just didn't feel comfortable out there. We didn't feel like he could contribute the way he usually does. That was it.
Q. Then Jordan returned, played very well. What did you think about him?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, like I've said with Jordan, I say this a lot, he creates a crowd, and he generates two on the ball by his shot making, his penetration, and that got a lot of our ball movement starting so that his scoring but his play making was well needed tonight. I thought he gave us some good energy that we needed.
Q. Seven players scored in double figures and Kyshawn had nine. What enabled that spreading of the wealth?
BRIAN KEEFE: Just sharing the ball, hitting the open man. I thought we turned the ball over a little too much in the first half, but we settled down in the second and just made the right play. Hit the open man, keep trusting that. I thought our offense was organized. That helped us. But that's how we want to play.
Q. Have there been common threads in the recent wins, like you think like all these wins have shared a certain common trait to them?
BRIAN KEEFE: Defense. Defense and passing. Sharing the ball, it starts with our defensive end. I thought our defense, that's the stuff that carries. You're not always going to make shots. Getting ourselves organized on offense, playing with pace and then making the right play, those are the things that are going to carry us forward, but the defense was great tonight.
Q. Another strong game for Alex. What does it say for him that he's starting to string together these performances night after night?
BRIAN KEEFE: Just learning and growing. I like his ability to -- tonight you saw a little bit of something different, his play making. They put two on the ball, and Jordan, he's playing in the short pocket and he's able to make good reads, so showing his versatility but affecting the shots at the rim, taking away shots at the rim. He's been playing well.
Q. Is his passing something that's surprised even you guys in how good it's been so far?
BRIAN KEEFE: No. That's one of the things I really liked about him when I first started watching him was I thought he was a pretty unique passer and saw the game well. I thought that would be something that we could utilize at this level. And he has.
Q. Another really great game shooting from three. Is that a part of the passing that you saw?
BRIAN KEEFE: You always want to get -- I thought we got open shots. Either you make them or not, but the process was right. We were finding it, making extra, swing, swing, and you want uncontested threes. You never want to take contested ones, and we were really moving it tonight, and that helped us.
Q. What have you thought about the trio of Malcolm, JV and Kyle coming off the bench and what that allows your team to do?
BRIAN KEEFE: Those guys have been great. They just know how to play, give us some structure, good passing, keep us organized. But I really thought when those guys came in the game, they changed the game defensively. I think Kyle took a charge. JV was really physical on the rim and then Malcolm was physical on the perimeter. That's when our defense really kicked in that last part of the first quarter and then we played it throughout.
Q. Do you think Alex is starting to notice, take JV's physicality and put it more toward his game after tonight?
BRIAN KEEFE: That would be great if he could take those few pounds that JV has to help enhance that. But no, I think JV has been great for him, in all seriousness. We talked about this before the game. He's been great for all of our guys. He has so much knowledge and experience in the league, in coverages and how to hard guys, and he's always trying to help all of our guys out. Obviously him and Alex play the same position, so that helps.
Q. With Kyle, not a high shot attempt game for him today. He seems like he's taking what the game is giving him and not pressing as much as he seemed to be earlier in the season. Is that what you're noticing as well?
BRIAN KEEFE: I thought he had actually playing that before the injury. I thought he was playing well before that. He's trying to get his rhythm back in the game, but great cutting, great defense tonight, winning plays. He really contributed to winning, and that's the most important thing.
Q. You won three games of the first 24 games of the season and you've also won three of the last seven. Have you noticed a shift in confidence in the locker room with that stretch?
BRIAN KEEFE: The answer is actually going to be no on that. Our guys are always working. That's what I always saw behind the scenes, putting the time in. Just because we win tonight, you've got to go back to work tomorrow, and that's kind of our mentality that we have is we want to keep getting better. How do you do that? You've got to take each day to prepare, rest your bodies, study, stuff you can do on the court. We were doing that the whole time, so I always -- behind the scenes I saw the confidence, and then we're seeing some of that results in the game, but the guys believed in themselves the whole time this year.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports