Wizards 120, Knicks 103
BRIAN KEEFE: I think we did as a group, we're not a super big team, so we're going to have to do it as a collective unit every night, so I thought everybody contributed and put bodies. We were getting all the loose ones and I think that led us to just getting some easy transition baskets, but our defense set the tone tonight from the very beginning.
Q. It seemed like the activity on the defensive end was really propelling the offense. You guys played with a lot more pace tonight, it seemed like, and a lot more organized. To the point you made last night, it felt like at times you guys were not as organized as you wanted to be. Did it feel like that tonight, the organization took another step?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, we felt like that was one of our big things we talked about this morning, can it get more organized, more pace, being more into our spacing. We have guys that can make good decisions once we do that, and we trust them to do that. I think our ball movement was great. We were organized. We were looking to kick ahead.
Obviously we made a lot of shots today, but the ball was spraying around. It was good.
Q. The amount of balance that you had from a scoring standpoint across the roster, with playing 15 guys as well, too, what was it tonight that the offense just seemed to be clicking in all facets for everyone?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, sometimes you make shots, but I think we were taking -- just like last night, they were taking the right shots. We play a very unselfish brand. We don't care; we just want the Wizards to score. Whoever is the open man, that's who we want to hit, and that's what we were doing tonight, and when you play that way it can be hard to guard. Obviously we've got to keep growing that, but we had some really good stretches of our ball movement tonight. Something we can take into our next game.
Q. I know even going back to last season but this season during camp, you really spoke about the fact that you like that anyone can initiate the offense for you but especially with regards to the amount of ball handlers you have. It seemed like every kind of run you went on tonight, it was two or three different guys that were doing it for you. What does that allow you on the offensive end to do with everyone being able to initiate?
BRIAN KEEFE: Hard to guard. Everybody is a threat. Everybody can handle. Everybody can pass. When we're playing with pace and getting stops and flowing into our offense, we're pretty hard to guard, I think. But we're not there yet. We're not fooling ourselves. This is just Game 2 of the preseason. We've got to keep stacking habits. The games are going to get more intense, get more physical, so these are good lessons for us tonight. We've got to keep carrying on these habits that we're building day by day.
Q. Bub had a bounce back, Tre had a bounce back, Will even had a bounce back himself, and Tristan really got you guys going in that first half. What does it say, especially with the young guys, that they were able to have a not-so-great offensive night last night, second night of a back to back and have a bounce back especially playing in one of the most famous arenas?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, the shots I don't care about. The bounce back, they played defense both nights. That was the most important thing to me is that shots went in, shots didn't go in yesterday. Either one didn't affect their defense. That's what we want because you're not always going to make shots. We're going to trust that we're going to make the right play. We did that last night we thought for the most part. We were even better tonight. Ball happened to go in. But our defense didn't change. Our disposition on that end did not change, and that's the most important thing for our team going forward.
Q. Can you speak to Will Riley's activity tonight? Seemed like on both ends he was extremely active.
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, he's got a unique knack to crash the boards. He's pretty good at that, but then just his movement and cutting and understanding space offensively, you can start seeing what he can do, some of the decision making he's capable of. He's one of those handlers that can make plays. He's got a good motor to him. It's been impressive so far.
Q. About Tristan (indiscernible) Serbian National Team. Could you elaborate on more of that?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think just his ability to protect the rim. The center position is such an important position in terms of your defense. You're involved in so many plays. I just think he's getting better with his communication, understanding what he's seeing, and then his pick-and-roll defense is improving, and I think you saw some of that tonight.
But he's got some growth, like our whole team does, just like a lot of them. So going to keep working on it. But he's growing in that regard. Like we said earlier at the pregame, he's gotten physically stronger, understanding the schemes that we're running, but he had a good imprint on that game tonight.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports