Hawks 131, Wizards 116
Q. Will, you've been getting more of an opportunity in recent games. What have you felt as you've started getting a little bit more consistent playing time, and how do you feel like it's impacting your game?
WILL RILEY: I feel like it's been good for me and my confidence just being able to get more time, get more feel for the game. It's just like if I get thrown out there, I'm always going to be ready, I'm always going to be trying to win. Just doing that and sticking with that has been important to me.
Q. Career high in scoring; what do you think helped you tonight?
WILL RILEY: Honestly, just being ready, working with my trainer Francis. We've been doing a lot of film. He's always been talking to me behind the scenes just telling me what I should and shouldn't do, so I feel like that's helped me a lot.
Q. Can you tell us how the Wizards have helped you get better even when you weren't playing some days?
WILL RILEY: Yeah, all the coaching staff is really close to me. They're really always talking to me, always uplifting me. Coach Keefe is always telling me, good job, good things. I feel like he helps in a lot of ways boost my confidence up even when I come off the court and that type of stuff. He really wants to win, and I feel like as a player who also wants to win, I feel like you feed off of a coach who wants to win, so I've been feeding off him and his energy, and that's been helping me a lot, too.
Q. What do you think you've gotten better at the most so far?
WILL RILEY: Honestly, my communication on defense and moving my feet. I still have a long way to go, obviously, on the defensive end, so I've been really working on that, trying to key in on that, and that's what I've been working on.
Q. You've been in the NBA for a little bit; what are the biggest changes from the NCAA?
WILL RILEY: Probably the physicality. Guys are a lot bigger, a lot stronger, a lot faster, so just getting adjusted to that.
Q. You have this cool, calm demeanor about you, whether it's on the floor or off the floor. Is that something you've always had in your career, even going back to when you were playing young, or is it just kind of understanding what your role is right now with regards to the team that you kind of just know it and it allows you to just be chill?
WILL RILEY: Yeah, I feel like I get my cool demeanor from my dad and my feisty competitive side from my mom, so it's like a good even.
Q. When you guys look at that third quarter, Justin and BK gave that second unit that you were a part of a lot of credit for the energy you guys came into the game with. What was it that allowed you to shift the energy and momentum in that third quarter and kind of take it up a notch from the starting unit?
WILL RILEY: Yeah, obviously the starting unit, they did a great job in leading us into that. We were able to just move the ball well, get a lot of touches, get off the ball, like quick decisions. I feel like that's what really helped us. We were just all competing. We were all engaged with each other, and I feel like that helped us a lot.
Q. I know you mentioned the confidence that this coaching staff fuels into you and you all as a team, but how much did the minutes and the opportunity with Cody and the Go-Go -- I know it was a quick stint, but how much did that also give you the mentality of, like, I can play at this level, I just need to do what I'm very good at and why they drafted me?
WILL RILEY: Yeah, going down with the Go-Go, especially playing with Coach Topp, I feel like he's really good at instilling confidence in players and also putting you in the right position to succeed. That team is just amazing. They never point fingers. I feel like with most teams, if you went down there as a guy who was playing on the Wizards, they would be, like, a little bit stingy in a way. But those guys all wanted me to succeed, want all of us to succeed, so I wanted to do the same thing for them, help them win, try and get wins, so that also helped, and especially getting on-ball reps, I feel like that was a big confidence booster and also helped me.
Q. You talked about the on-ball reps. Do you see yourself as a point guard?
WILL RILEY: I see myself as any position that helps the team to win, honestly. Whatever that is, that's what it is.
Q. Brian Keefe talks to us about the standards that he sets for you guys. How are those communicated to you guys, and what are those communicated as?
WILL RILEY: Yeah, we have a lot of team meetings and team film sessions, so he always talks to us about that. Every practice he's always telling us the standards we've got to have on defense, whether it's communication, that type of stuff, shift spots. All of that he communicates very well, too, and we just focus on that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports