Wizards 125, Bulls 107
Q. JP, how did you feel coming back from the injury?
JORDAN POOLE: I felt good.
Q. You guys made 17 threes, 36 assists. Can you talk about how much you loved the ball movement? What do you think led to that?
JORDAN POOLE: I don't know. It's just been a focus over the last couple weeks or month or so. We've been trending in the right direction. We're just playing the right way, getting guys involved, guys open, just using ball movement to get easy shots. We're just continuing to learn and grow as a team. Coach has kind of really been focusing on that, and I think we're starting to show that in our play.
Q. You were getting treatment at times when you came out of the game. Was it an ice pack on your left hip?
JORDAN POOLE: I don't even really remember.
Q. With the way that Alex has been playing lately, what's impressed you the most?
JORDAN POOLE: He's just continuing to get better. He's learning. He's very avid about figuring out ways to better his game. I talk to him a lot. A lot of in-game dialogue, but just a lot of dialogue in general. Being a first-year player and seeing the game differently, that pace can be really fast as a first-year player, so if there's any way that I can help him with some of the reads, especially with the way that teams are guarding me, it benefits him, and it puts him in a bigger role just to decision make while also being aggressive.
He's figuring out when to slip, when to set screens, when to flip screens, when to pop, when to roll. But he's been doing a really good job of just learning. The coaches are doing a good job of just continuing to teach him and not giving him many outs, along with the rest of our rookies, as well. I think everybody has been stepping up and performing. These are guys that want to get better with their craft, and it's showing off.
Q. After you hit the game winner the other night and you were hurt, Coach Keefe said, you wouldn't believe how much pain Jordan can play through. Can you speak to that and how that's been a part of your career?
JORDAN POOLE: Yeah, I mean, I just love to hoop, honestly, and if there's any way that I can go out there and try to help our team win games, I'm going to try to do that. Playing playoff basketball and Final Four basketball and just championship-level basketball in general there's some things that you've just got to play through. Credit to our training staff, credit to the coaching staff for also understanding and just trusting them. But it's a part of the game. I feel like toughness is part of my identity, and I feel like it's something that we're building here just throughout the organization. It just comes with it.
Q. Alex has been shooting really well. As someone who's made the jump from college to the NBA, what do you remember about what the biggest differences were in making shooting difficult, and how long did it take you to get acclimated to it?
JORDAN POOLE: I talk to Ky about this pretty often, Kyshawn. Kyshawn is an extremely high-level shooter, and I continuously tell them that I only shot 27 percent from three my first year. I'm talking, like, couldn't throw a rock into the ocean.
It made me better. It just takes time. It took me an entire year to just adjust to the line, adjust to the games, adjust to the physicality. We're guarding, we're running, we play 82 games, we're traveling, so it's more so on the body, and it just takes time to get acclimated to. Credit to our rookies just for continuing to stick through it and not changing their game, not wavering in confidence.
It's a good opportunity for them to be out there to play through that, as well, and it's just a matter of time before all of them get really comfortable from that line. I think our coaches are doing a good job of wanting us to get up a lot of threes, play fast, play in transition, and just putting confidence into other people to add that to our team game. So it's just a matter of time before it becomes extremely consistent, and it's just a threat, especially with Alex being able to spread the floor.
Q. For young people that are studying your game, what are some tools you can share with them to stay on the right course and to stay in a positive mindset even through adversity?
JORDAN POOLE: Just confidence. Work on your craft. Just kind of rely on the work that you put in. There will be good games, there will be bad games, but just continuing to put yourself in a position where you can rely on the hard work that you've put in. When you go out there, just everything kind of takes care of itself.
That's really about it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports