Clippers 110, Wizards 106
Q. What were your biggest takeaways the final sequences of the game? What made the difference?
BUB CARRINGTON: What made the difference? We missed a rebound, and they just happened to make more shots than us.
Q. Aside from the result, how valuable is it for you guys to be in those situations, get those looks that you did, whether they fell or not?
BUB CARRINGTON: Super valuable. To be in those situations, to try to execute and fail in those situations so that you don't do it again, being in crunch-time scenarios is never a bad thing, win or lose, especially for a young team, and we understand that.
Q. Tonight 500 plus assists, 500 plus rebounds for yourself, eighth youngest player before 21 to do that in NBA history. Where have you seen the most growth from yourself with those two categories?
BUB CARRINGTON: I would say hunting it, like not just playing basketball like willy-nilly, whatever. Understanding that I can do those things and I can do them at a high level, so actively trying to do those things I think is where I've seen the most growth.
Q. From a facilitation standpoint with yourself, your assists have gone up a little bit this season, as well. Are you feeling more comfortable commanding, whether it's the starting unit or the second unit, depending on the rotation on a nightly basis, but are you also feeling more comfortable just within the NBA game itself and feeling more like yourself and you can play the way you want to play within the system that BK has you playing in?
BUB CARRINGTON: For sure. For sure. I think I'm a person that -- people say, are you like a visual learner or can you learn by hearing things, whatever. I think I learn by literally being in those situations. I think that's where I can learn times 300, just being in a situation. The more I'm in it, the faster I'll get it and the better I'll be. I definitely think it was time, and especially since last year I'm getting way more comfortable.
Q. Harden made it to the line, I think, 20 times tonight. How do young players like yourself and Kyshawn and everybody else learn to defend a guy like that who's so good at getting to the line and he's been in the league for so long?
BUB CARRINGTON: What are you asking me?
Q. How do you and the rest of the young players learn to defend that without sending him to the line as much?
BUB CARRINGTON: How can we learn to guard that? I don't know how to -- Harden has been doing this for a very long time. I don't know, man. I don't know.
Q. What do you think Trae Young can bring to the team?
BUB CARRINGTON: Trae Young can bring everything that he brought to Atlanta and then some. He's actually an amazing talent, I think someone that can go down in this league's Hall of Fame, so he's just going to bring obviously value on the court. He's going to bring potential. He's going to bring fans. He's going to bring energy, leadership. Trae brings a lot, and he's proud of himself for bringing a lot. He's going to hold us accountable and we're going to hold him accountable.
Q. Why have you all been more competitive deeper into games? Why do you think that's happening?
BUB CARRINGTON: I would say our coach, BK, has been laying it pretty heavy. Like no matter what the league is throwing at you, 3:00 p.m. game after coming back on a back to back or having a back to back going from Sac to Denver, he just said, just have that mindset like -- I'm not going to say that. But just go out there and hoop. It's us versus anybody else. We've been kind of carrying that mindset. That's been our kind of mantra over the last couple games. I think that's probably why we had an extra fire in these games.
Q. When you're in the middle of a game, like when you see a Jamal Murray, he doesn't speed up late in the game, Harden doesn't speed up late in the game. What are some lessons you can learn from those guys?
BUB CARRINGTON: Learn that what I'm seeing from those guys, like late game, it's really focusing on not getting sped up and getting exactly what you want to get to. Not really being reactionary but more so understanding what you want to do, what the team is trying to do and doing it, and those guys do that very well, whereas we're a young team, we probably can get caught being reaction. Oh, this happened; let's try to do this or let's try to do that. At crunch time that's always not going to be the best case scenario. To your question, Jamal Murray and Harden understand those things. They've been in those situations a million times, so they execute them very well.
Q. How have you gotten better at your IQ on the court this season?
BUB CARRINGTON: How have I gotten better at my IQ? I read books maybe. Is that what you're looking for?
Q. Just mentally on the court --
BUB CARRINGTON: Kind of like what Meghan said earlier, I've been in these situations now for a year, gone on to just seeing things. The more I see them, I think the better I'll be at them. I think I've been showing that a little bit. I just need experience.
Q. In hard times for young people that are looking at your story, seeing exactly how far you've come, what are some words you can share to keep them on the right path when you're going through a tough battle?
BUB CARRINGTON: You asked about just the battles?
Q. Yeah.
BUB CARRINGTON: I mean, we like our group of guys. We genuinely like each other, and we try to embrace the fight. We see exactly what we can be here and what we can do. We just really hone in on -- we've just got to get through this. We've just got to get through this. Things are going to take care of itself. We like the fight. We're not going to run from it. Nobody on this team always had it easy. Maybe Trae Young. But everyone else, we had to come from something. So that battle, that fight, the lows and some highs and a lot of lows, that ain't going to get to us for real.
Q. You talked about liking your guys in the locker room. I'm curious as to how you and Kyshawn have grown as alternating play makers. You guys can put the ball on the ground and create plays in the clutch. I'm wondering how you guys feed off a balance of who's doing what and when?
BUB CARRINGTON: We read each other. It's a read on the court. It can be based on matchups. Say one night I've got someone that really wants to guard me 94 feet. There's no point in me trying to get in an ego match with him. Kyshawn can handle the ball, and naturally with him being on ball more he'll get more assists. This can be a game where Kyshawn likes his matchup and we obviously like Kyshawn to be aggressive so he's not going to pass the ball as much. We need him to score, he's going to score. He needs me to pass, I'm going to pass. It's a read on the court. I think we communicate well on court.
Q. What have you done in your year and a half working together to foster that kind of relationship?
BUB CARRINGTON: We just talk a lot. We talk a lot about basketball. We sit next to each other on the plane, and we talk about basketball a lot.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports