Lakers 134, Wizards 96
Q. The first quarter was within reach and then it kind of got out of hand from there. What do you think made the difference?
BRIAN KEEFE: I didn't make our defense to start the game. We scored better at the start for sure, 29. The game was even, I think, for the first six minutes, but they shot I think 60 percent in the first quarter, and I think that continued to bleed over into the second and then we didn't continue to score and then the game got a little bit out of reach there.
Credit a lot of guys who came in and played in the second half who hadn't played a lot of minutes; they played their tails off, gave it everything they possibly had to try to cut into that lead, but we lost the momentum there in the second quarter for sure.
Q. Bilal only took six field goals. Would you like to see him get more shots up by any means, or is it just taking what the game gives him?
BRIAN KEEFE: Take what the game gives you for sure. We always want him to be aggressive. The game didn't always call for him to have -- I thought he played fine, but sometimes that happens.
Q. I know you've been asked variations of this, but when the team loses this number of games by this wide a margin, how do you ensure that the Wizards don't develop a losing culture?
BRIAN KEEFE: I just don't believe that we will do that. I believe in the character in the room. I believe in the character of the organization. No one is running from where we are. We're not hiding from it and the disappointment of how we've played a little bit lately, but I 100 percent believe in the people who are leading this organization, and I believe in our players. Sometimes you go through some tough times, and we're going to respond with some resiliency. I know that with our group.
Not saying it's not challenging, but we've got to enjoy the challenge of where we are, and sometimes you've got to go through these things. I think we'll be better coming out on the other side.
A lot of teams have gone through this, too. Good teams go through this. So we're in a challenging moment, but we're going to step into the challenge and support each other.
Q. What is it about your group and your organization that gives you the confidence that you guys will be able to emerge from this?
BRIAN KEEFE: Great leadership, starting with ownership, and then obviously Michael and Will and the people we work with, through the support system for our players, the work that has been put into our guys, the work that has continued to be done by our players. I believe in the work.
There's no way around these things. Sometimes you're in tough moments. What are you going to do? You've got to continue to push, continue to be resilient. I believe in that in our group, and I always will, and we're going to keep working on it.
Q. With tonight's loss, you guys have tied the worst point margin of defeat in NBA history. I know at the beginning of the season you talked about wanting to play more clutch games, wanting to play more competitive games. When you see that kind of a stat, how do you evaluate that goal?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, I don't pay attention to some random stats like that. I know what I feel with the locker room and with the team.
No one wants to hear those numbers. Like I said, we're not running from anything. We're not hiding from any of that stuff. We've got to be better. We've got to get better as a group. It starts with me. I'm the leader of the group, and I'm not running from that, either, so I don't shirk my responsibilities of where I am and where I stand with this. We have to be better, and the only way you can do that is in the work and get lost in the work and we're going to continue to do that.
Q. Did you expect that the team would be more competitive through the beginning of the season than they have been?
BRIAN KEEFE: I don't deal in hypotheticals. I never think that way. That's not how I think.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports