Spurs 131, Wizards 121
Q. The five rebounds is not enough?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: No, it's not enough. How many minutes did I play? Should have been like eight.
Q. You had that one area where you ran along the baseline and got an offensive board. It's more quantity over quality for you?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: I think the more I can get, the better chance I give my team at getting more points on the board. That's how I feel about it.
Q. You got to play against your brother, got to hit a three in your brother's face and had some choice words for him on the way back down the court. What did that moment feel like for you?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: Yeah, I mean, when I played him in Miami, he did the same thing to me. He hit a three and it was a whole with big thing, and I was like, all right, I'll never live that one down until I get him back. So it was definitely a fun moment to get out there and just compete against him, have some fun.
Yeah, my whole family was here. We've been waiting for moments like this, to come on this stage and just have fun together and be out there together. It was definitely a blessing tonight for sure.
Q. Can you share what you said? Is it family friendly?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: I'm not going to share what I said. But just know I let him have some words. I'll leave it at that.
Q. What have you liked about how the team has played lately, win or loss, how competitive you guys have been?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: Yeah, I think we come in every day and we have more of a fight factor to us. I think we don't lay down to nobody, and win, lose or draw, I think we're going out there and trying to put our best foot forward, do the right things, do what's being taught to us, and just live with the outcome, knowing that we're playing to our max and just live with it. It's been fun to play. It's been fun to watch. Can't wait to just keep it going.
Q. I know you're going to be representing the team in San Francisco along with a bunch of other guys. What do you hope that kind of represents about the organization, to have so many representatives there?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: Just shows that we're working. Results don't come overnight, and we've put in a lot of work from the summertime until now, and it's good to see all of us get some type of reward for what we've been doing. But the work is not done, obviously. We've got a whole 'nother half a season to play, so I think just go out there, enjoy this time with our teammates, root for each other, and then get back and know that the end goal is to finish the season off strong.
Q. Do you have any prior relationships with any of the guys they brought in at the deadline or any thoughts in general about the players that were brought in?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: Yeah, I think all of them can hoop. I think everybody has a unique game, and with the right opportunity I think everybody can go out there and show what they've got.
Q. Justin, I know it's special for your family to share this, but have you had the chance or given any thought to how special it is to NBA history -- you're not the only brothers who have faced off against each other, but still, it doesn't mean it's --
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: Definitely, there's not many brothers that have been in the league, especially twins. Yeah, it's a big thing for us. We don't look at it like too, too much because we're in it, we're trying to still fight for our footing and show that we belong, but in the grand scheme of things, yeah, man, it's a blessing.
I don't even know what else to say. It's a blessing. It's a sigh of relief, like we both made it, we're both doing our thing in our respective places, and the only way is up. It's definitely fun, and I always think it's a blessing that we get this opportunity to come out here and play.
Q. When the two of you would play one-on-one against each other whether it was in the driveway or wherever, did you guys ever pretend or allow yourselves to think, hey, maybe we'll do this one day in the NBA?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: That was always the goal. I think we played a couple sports growing up, like different sports other than basketball, but basketball was always a sport that we knew, all right, when it's time we're going to take it serious, we're going to try to make a living out of it. I think when we got to our senior year of high school, we kind of started to say, all right, we could really do this; we could really make a living off of this and change our family's life.
I want to say one more thing about the one-on-ones. I used to kill him. (Laughter). I used to kill him. He got a couple wins but it wasn't enough. That's what I wanted to say about that.
Q. What's it like to see a guy like Vuc have one of his best games tonight? You've obviously played with him in the G and the NBA. What's it like to see him come up like that and going along with yours, as well?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: Yeah, that's my boy, man. Tristan put in a lot of work, coming back from injury, being in the G, trying to show that he belongs. Yeah, for him to go out there and go against one of the better bigs in the league in Wembanyama and just attack him and have straight-up confidence that he can bang with the best of them. He went there and he held his own. He put his foot down and he showed that he belonged. Super happy for Trist, super proud of him, and can't wait to see what he keeps doing.
Q. What is the biggest way your family's life has changed because of what you guys have been able to carve out in the NBA?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: Man, the biggest way my family's life has changed? I mean, I guess one thing -- not bothers them, but it's a lot, is that everyone always asks, oh, how are the kids, they're in the NBA, how do you feel. I think that's pretty much the most way their life has changed, that everybody is more questioning them, asking them this, that, this, that.
Hopefully -- I'm still on a two-way; I'm working for mine, and I'm hoping to change their life a little bit more in the future.
Q. We asked you variations of this earlier this season, but you're 6'8"?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: I'm really like 6'6" to be honest.
Q. How does anyone who's 6'6" match up against a 7'3", maybe 7'4" guy?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: I've got heart. I don't give in to nobody. I don't care how tall you are, how big you are, who you are. I've got heart, and I go out there and fight every day for what's mine. My coaches and my teammates trust me to go out there and be physical and do what I do on defense and then after that just let it flow and just go out there and play my hardest.
Q. Speaking of that size difference, what did you think about Bilal's dunk on Wemby?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: Man, oh, man. I think if you watch the replay, I was probably screaming more than Bilal when he did it, on my way down the court, back to the time-out. But man, BC got some bounce on him, and yeah, that's definitely, if you ask me, SportsCenter top 10. He punched that for sure. That was crazy.
Q. Have you and Julian always had similar facial hair styles?
JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE: I mean, we're twins, so yeah. We always kind of looked alike. I just grew a beard this year. This is my first year having one, I guess. We're twins. We look alike. We try not to keep the same exact hair style, length and stuff like that because you can't tell us apart if we do. But yeah. Yeah.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports