Raptors 113, Wizards 112
Q. Raptors shot, I think, 32 percent from the field despite the turnovers. What do you chalk that up to, a good defensive performance or them missing shots?
BRIAN KEEFE: I thought in stretches we played some pretty good defense. I thought the first game was pretty good. Defensively we struggled a little bit there in the second group. Then we finished the game terrific defensively.
We had some good stretches. They probably missed some open shots, for sure, but I thought we did some good things there that I liked, some progress.
Q. What did you think about your team's shot selection?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, this was a good first game for us because these guys like to pressure you. So I thought there was a lot of lessons that we can learn from getting ourselves organized. Once we got ourselves organized, we were taking the right shots. Sometimes you're going to miss those. We've got no problem with that. I thought our process was good.
I thought at times they did speed us up. That kind of caused some of the turnovers. But once we kind of got settled down, and we started moving them, we got the shots we wanted.
Q. It seemed like Will's passing really stood out in the fourth quarter. What have you noticed about that part of his game?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, he's got a great way of processing the game, sees the game really well. You can see some of the passing he can make. It was a good first game for him.
Q. Alex played just about 17 minutes. Was that partly just easing back from the injury?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, he was just going to play in the first half tonight. That's kind of where he was at physically. Thought he had great minutes he was out there. Nice to see him there.
Q. Five shot attempts. Only one of them was a three-pointer. It looked like he was getting inside and finishing. What did you think about his game?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, he was on the rim, attacking, rebounding, shot blocking. He was a presence for us on both ends around the basket.
Q. Kyshawn, Bub, and Tre each struggled from the field. What did you think of their overall performance?
BRIAN KEEFE: I didn't have any problem with the shots they took. Sometimes they're going to go in, sometimes they're not. But I liked the process they had tonight. Continue to be aggressive, those shots will go in.
Q. Is Tre (indiscernible.)
BRIAN KEEFE: No.
Q. What did you make of Cam Whitmore's effort on both ends?
BRIAN KEEFE: I thought he gave some good stuff. You could see his ability to get downhill and attack the rim, made some good passes once he got in there. He's one of those guys who can put pressure, and that's what I want him to continue to do.
Q. Defensively on that last lob, what did you see?
BRIAN KEEFE: They did a nice job. They executed well. Great pass. We put Marvin on the ball to make it a hangtime pass. We got caught on the screen a little bit. Great learning lessons for our guys. Those are now things we can review. Great teaching moments for those guys who haven't been in a situation like that. So really good stuff.
Q. Kyshawn had four blocks today. What kind of strides have you seen him make on that end of the floor?
BRIAN KEEFE: He did that last year. From the second half of the year on was terrific defensively. That's just a carryon from there.
Q. With regards to rebounding, Bub was a great guard rebounder last year, but Tre had a great showing on the glass. What did you like most about how he was able to board in this game?
BRIAN KEEFE: He's athletic. That's what people don't give him enough credit for. He can get up, get off the floor, and then he can initiate our offense. I thought he did a great job on the boards.
Q. CJ in the first half with four threes, how did you like how he was able to accomplish that?
BRIAN KEEFE: He's been doing this a long time. No surprise from him. He helps us get organized. Shot-making ability for sure.
Q. On the defensive end, it seemed like there was a lot of action with what you guys have been promoting in practice. What did you like about the action from the guys trying to get deflections, trying to turn Toronto over?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, I thought we had some good stretches of that. More inconsistent for the 48, but then you saw us how we finished. Those guys came in and were terrific, causing havoc, getting loose balls. That's the way we want to play. Got to continue to grow that, see if we can get 48 minutes more consistent effort like that. It was trending in the right direction. We saw some good things tonight.
Q. The difficulty for that unit that closed the game, to for some of them sit as long as they did but then be ready when their number was called and have an impact closing the game, I think it was a 24-6 run, to try to get that win, what does that say about them being ready for that moment?
BRIAN KEEFE: Just the character of the people we have in our locker room. That's been evident since we've been here. That's going to continue. We have people who are going to fight until the very last second of the game. That's what we want. That's how we're going to grow. That's pretty hard to do, but those guys -- we expect them to do that, and we have a standard for that, and those guys stepped up big at the end, so kudos to them.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports