Suns 115
Wizards 101
Q. When you have a situation, especially with the way you guys have been rebounding as of late, a high-rebounding team comes in, was it just simply a mindset shift that you needed to have happen that didn't happen in the first half?
MARVIN BAGLEY III: Yeah, definitely. I think whenever you get out-rebounded, it can always go back to effort. I think we did a better job in the second half of trying to put more force on the rim and crashing and trying to put ourselves in better positions to rebound.
Yeah, it's definitely a mindset thing, making sure we hit somebody when the shot goes up instead of turning and ball watching and not hitting anyone.
Yeah, I think we did a better job second half of that. We just got to do that no matter who we're playing. We just got to continue to do that.
Q. DK mentioned the shift that happened in the second half. He also mentioned the necessary force he felt wasn't there in the first half. Did it feel on the floor there was a shift in the force you were playing with in the second half?
MARVIN BAGLEY III: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think we were more aggressive overall on both ends. Defensively we were getting some stops, trying to cut the game down, just trying to make winning plays. I think we did a good job of that in the second half.
Like I said, whenever you don't do it in the first half, it always kind of puts you in a tough spot going into the second half.
We just got to try not to put ourselves in those situations and give ourselves chances to win.
Q. (Off microphone.)
MARVIN BAGLEY III: I'm just playing my game, man. I'm just doing whatever I can do to help the team in positive ways. I'm not thinking of certain things. I just try to come in, make sure my energy is there every night, make sure my effort is there every night. With that alone, everything else will fall in line, for me personally. I just try and check in, bring that every single night, give my best, live with whatever the result is.
Q. In your travels, how have you learned to be a more positively impactful player with your time?
MARVIN BAGLEY III: A lot of what I just said. Just coming in every game with that mindset of doing whatever I need to do game to game that will give us a chance to win.
It's different from game to game. I just got to try to lock in on that consistency. I've been doing a good job of that. Still not satisfied. Still there's a lot of room to grow, a lot of room to get better.
I'm just trying to lock in on that every single game, every single practice, every single time I'm doing workouts before, just focusing on things I can get better on and going after that. That's a part of it, as well.
Q. Tre Johnson was talking about going through back-to-backs as a rookie. What advice would you give to a young player?
MARVIN BAGLEY III: Yes, it's tough. My rookie year, that was my biggest adjustment, as well, is the traveling and the back-to-backs.
My advice would be just to find a routine that works for you, that you know gets you ready to play these games, man. The league demand as lot from you. Back-to-backs are tough. Figuring out your routine to kind of stay locked into the game and not let that feeling of being on the back-to-back affect how you play.
Just staying locked in, I think that's the biggest thing. It's more of a mental thing than a physical thing, as well, in my opinion. Yeah, finding a routine and mentally staying strong with it, getting through back-to-backs like these, travel days where we're going to be traveling, stuff like that.
Q. Tre had a pretty good game. He handled it all right. What has his shooting brought to this team?
MARVIN BAGLEY III: It's great, man. You guys can see, he's capable of getting his shot off. He's pulling from deep. Couple shots he shot, when he shot 'em, it was like, Oh, he made it. That's a good shot (smiling). He's comfortable shooting that.
He works on that every day. You see him shooting those type of shots. It's not really a surprise, but it's good to see him getting into his flow, getting more comfortable. Yeah, it's always good to see a teammate contributing in a positive way.
Q. Alex only had two points tonight. What did you see from him offensively that was different from games where he scored a lot more? What advice would you give him?
MARVIN BAGLEY III: He's fine. He'll be fine. You have games like that. I'm not worried about it. I'm not stressed about it.
I see the work he puts in. I see the behind the scenes. Just stay with it. That's what I would say, stay with it. Got a lot of games left to play. Fix whatever you need to fix, come out next game and fix those things.
I'm not worried about it. You have games like that. He's a great player. That doesn't take away from what he's able to do out there and how he helps us.
Yeah, I have the utmost confidence in him coming out next game and bringing that energy and effort.
Q. They shot well from three. How do you make sense of when the opposing team shoots really well from three but 40% from the field overall?
MARVIN BAGLEY III: I don't know. I mean, we just try to make it tougher on 'em, try to run 'em off the line a little more, try to set them inside into the crowds with me and Alex. A lot of the guys being in the shift spots, getting deflections and stuff like that. We got to make it a little bit more tougher on them.
I think when we do that, we're really great. When we have slip-ups, you can kind of see it. Yeah, we just got to keep chipping away at it. It's something that over time we'll get better. We're getting better, in my opinion. We just got to keep chipping away at it.
Q. You talked about Alex. He seems to have pretty good ability to have a next-play mentality, move on. What have you seen from him with his calm nature, how it helps him bounce back?
MARVIN BAGLEY III: It's a long season. For him, he's asked to do a lot for us. He understands that some games are going to be better than others. You can tell by how he carries himself, his ability to move on to the next play, to the next game, like you said, just continue to put the work in. That's what it is all about.
Every game is not going to be great for all of us, but how you move on to the next day, to the next play, is what really matters. I think he has that skill. That's what makes him really good.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports