Pacers 162, Wizards 109
Q. How do you explain that performance?
BRIAN KEEFE: We just didn't have the proper force. I'll take that. That's on me, not having the group as ready as we should have been. Give them credit; they made shots, but we didn't make them miss. Our physicality wasn't there. We were scoring but our defense really never got in the game, and then we couldn't shut off the faucet. They were hot and we never shut them off.
Q. In a season where you're trying to build habits and develop players and move forward and try and build a culture, what does a loss like that signify, and does it derail some of the momentum you felt like you had built?
BRIAN KEEFE: You should be upset. You shouldn't be happy. It's always about what you do going forward. Unfortunately losses like this happen. You don't want them to. No one is happy about it, most of all our organization, me, the players especially. We have competitive guys in our locker room, but it's how you go forward. It's always how you respond.
Q. What is the conversation like with the players in the locker room after a game like this?
BRIAN KEEFE: We've got a lot of work to do. We've got nine games left. We're here to get better. Let's take accountability for what we did tonight. We have to own that and then how are we going to get better. It's always how we're going to move forward.
Q. Khris Middleton was out with knee soreness. Is there an update on him?
BRIAN KEEFE: He's been dealing with a little knee soreness. He felt it a little bit. We'll have more information when gets an MRI tomorrow. We'll see more then.
Q. One thing that happened is Bub Carrington broke a Wizards rookie record for threes made in a season. Did you expect him to have this kind of impact from downtown heading into this year?
BRIAN KEEFE: Congratulations to him. I didn't know that. But yeah, I expected him to do this when we started him from day one. We had great faith in his ability to play, and obviously his shooting was one of his strengths. So not surprised. Credit to him.
Q. What's one of the main things that you're going to focus on just as far as an attribute for your team to work on the next nine games?
BRIAN KEEFE: Just keep the stuff that we've been really emphasizing here for the longest -- establishing our defense, which we have. We didn't have it tonight. We need to be better. We've been getting better in that area. And then sharing the ball and our ball movement. Tonight we didn't have it, and we've got to get back ready to play, get some rest and get ready to go for the next one.
Q. With Khris and the knee soreness, how long has he been experiencing that?
BRIAN KEEFE: Just for the last few days.
Q. AG also exited the game. Any update on him?
BRIAN KEEFE: No, not yet.
Q. With Alex, he has led the team in shot attempts for seven of the eight games. Has there been an effort to expand his offensive role and see what he can do in that area?
BRIAN KEEFE: No, I just think it's him being more comfortable. It's no directive, just be aggressive. We want him to attack. We play through him quite a bit because of how we run our offense. He's just looking to be aggressive, and we want him to continue to do that.
Q. You mentioned they got hot. They made 27 threes. What was it like as you guys tried to stem that momentum?
BRIAN KEEFE: We just could never get it under control. Give them credit for making them. They had to do it, but we didn't have the necessary force or physicality to disrupt their game. We tried different coverages and mixing things up. We never could get our footing in the game to really establish ourselves. We had really no problems scoring the first half. It was just really our defense.
Q. What sticks out to you the most about Jalen Martin and Colby Jones so far?
BRIAN KEEFE: I like their competitiveness. I thought Colby was one of more competitive guys tonight. Their physicality I can their athleticism, I've liked what they've given us so far.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports