Wizards 124, Hornets 114
Q. Two straight wins; what did you like about what you saw from your team today?
BRIAN KEEFE: I loved our defensive intensity. That's really what triggered the game in that second quarter, our activity, and then converting that into transition, and I thought we were just unselfish, moved the ball, and we took good shots, but it was really our defense that fueled that run. And even when they cut the lead it was our defense to start the fourth that fueled that second run to kind of push the game in our direction.
Q. Bilal, 26 points. They started the game with their 5 on him. What do you want his reaction to be when teams put their center on him?
BRIAN KEEFE: Just play basketball like he did tonight. Just make the simple plays, make the right reads, defend, get out in transition. He just played. It was great.
Q. How important is it for him to continue taking those three-point shots even if they had not been going in recently?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, he took ones in rhythm, and we always talk about that. When things are in rhythm, which they were more tonight, they're shots we want him to take, keep firing.
Q. For Richaun, another strong game for him on the boards. What did you see from him, especially on that fourth quarter play where he got two offensive rebounds on one possession?
BRIAN KEEFE: Just his intangibles that he's shown has been terrific. He's been like that since we've had him here. He just makes winning plays. That was a huge play tonight.
Q. Bilal talked about how -- I asked him about the shooting and he laughed and said I got a really good workout in yesterday. How much do you think that getting a chance for him to feel that good in the weight room, that good on the floor can translate over the way that it did tonight?
BRIAN KEEFE: It's the whole thing for me. How you get consistent in this league is by the work that you put in. I see you guys probably get sick of me saying that, but that's the truth. You want to get good, you want to be a consistent player and a consistent team, it's all about the work. It's about the process. Our guys are terrific with that, so that's something I don't even think about because it's just who they are now. We have a lot of guys who are like that, pretty much the whole roster. Keep it going.
Q. Corey seems to be in a fantastic rhythm right now, not just with the three-point shot but just overall with his offense. What have you seen from him, especially the last four games with the way he's kind of putting a mixture of things together; as much as the three-point shot is falling he's not just settling on that?
BRIAN KEEFE: His driving his always been good, his screen setting, and his defensive rebounding. He made some big rebounding plays the last couple games, and those are winning things we want to see from everybody.
Q. When you look at the three-point shooting in its totality for you all tonight, it seemed like there was a lot of a paint presence with you guys getting a touch and then getting those spray-outs, something that you have mentioned numerous times that when you guys get that opportunity, you have a lot of success. It's now two games where you've got that. How do you continue those building blocks?
BRIAN KEEFE: To be aggressive and attack. It starts with defense; if we can get downhill, get lay-ups, then when they collapse the defense you make the right read and hit the open guy. When we do that, we're a pretty good team.
Q. When you talk about getting shots in rhythm, how do you define an in-rhythm shots?
BRIAN KEEFE: It's a great question. It's stuff that patterned in our offense, things that we know that are coming, things that are repeatable. Sometimes it's just making the right pass, hitting a guy on target, not maybe throwing it at his feet. All those things matter. That's the rhythm; when the ball is moving simply and you just find the open man, that definitely leads to your shooting being better, and we've done that the last couple games.
Q. Was tonight one of those games where Malcolm's poise and presence for you all and the calmness that he brings was truly on display in what he was able to do organizationally?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, he just settles us down, gets us organized, can get to the free-throw line, makes big rebounds. He's just a huge presence for us when he's on the court. He just knows how to make the right play on the timely stuff and calms our team down.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports