Rockets 123, Wizards 118
Q. First of all, what do you think was kind of the biggest difference for them tonight?
BILAL COULIBALY: I'd say we just lost a lot of balls at some point. Yeah, we were just giving them the ball. They had transition buckets, so they just came easy at some point. They made a run, and that was on us.
Q. It was his NBA debut tonight, Juju Reese. What are your first impressions of him?
BILAL COULIBALY: Great, man. A fighter. He's going to get those boards. He needs more reps, of course, but yeah, he'll be good for us.
Q. With tough defensive matchups tonight, is there anything you can take from this? I know it's not the first time going against the Rockets, but do you see a lot of growth going against KD and Alperen Sengün?
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah, definitely. Been doing that for three years now, but there's a couple guys like rooks, like Jamir, that they did a great job tonight, and I think they can really help us throughout that journey, and yeah, really excited.
Q. Knowing that days are numbered until Trae Young is expected to debut, what's the excitement like in the locker room knowing that he's this close?
BILAL COULIBALY: Really excited because we know what he's capable of. He's going to make everything easier for us. Yeah, we really can't wait for him to get out there.
Q. How do you see your game jumping with him as your point guard?
BILAL COULIBALY: I mean, I can be way more active defensively like cutting a little bit more because I know he's going to find me. So yeah, I'm really excited.
Q. Seems like your shot has been going in a lot recently. Do you feel like you've been doing anything that you weren't doing before, or is it just getting more reps, being in the lineup more?
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah, just getting more reps, being out there a little bit more, finding my rhythm, and yeah, trusting my work.
Q. What did it mean to see Trae Young stick up for his teammate tonight?
BILAL COULIBALY: It means a lot. We talked about it after. He's been really involved since he got here, on the court, off the court, at practice, when we take the plane, when we're in different cities and all that. He's been really involved, and yeah, he just showed everybody today, so it was great.
Q. When you say you guys all talked about it, you mean Brian brought it up in his postgame?
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah, he talked to everybody. He said, we love to see guys stick up for each other, and Trae, he did great.
Q. You really had a good game offensively tonight. What is the balance between finding your shot, being aggressive on offense, but also having the same type of energy on defense?
BILAL COULIBALY: I mean, whenever I play good defense, offensively just going with the flow, just being aggressive, going downhill, knocking down my shots, teammates are finding me and all that. So yeah, it just came easy.
Q. I have an unconventional question for you. It's common to see competitions happening in time-outs. What was it like, you guys were all hyped for that guy to hit the $10,000 shot?
BILAL COULIBALY: Yeah, really excited. I was talking to Leaky right before, and we were like, he looks like a hooper. We were excited to see what was about to happen, and he made it, so yeah, we were really excited for him.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports