Pistons 115, Wizards 95
Q. What did they do to create such an advantage in the paint tonight?
BRIAN KEEFE: A little bit was off turnovers. A little bit in transition. Offensive rebounds. I think all those things combined. I think our shot was tight enough for the team that didn't shoot the ball well enough. A little bit of execution stuff.
Then the positive stuff was we were down big early and we got that thing to six. Turnovers hurt us in the fourth. The resiliency was there. I was happy for that after a tough start.
Q. Just the 14 point first quarter, what prevented you guys from getting off to a better start?
BRIAN KEEFE: Give them some credit. They were physical to start. We were kind of slow getting into our offense. Once we figured out getting stops, playing with pace, realize you got to play with player and ball and move it. You saw that in the second quarter; 38 points.
Loved our pace. Loved or next action. Loved how quickly we got off and just found guys. But the start, got to give them credit. They put their hands on us. We figured it out. That was good.
Q. Bub scored more paint touches recently. Have you noticed anything different in his approach or, I don't know, anything he's vocally said about trying to (indiscernible) shot inside, or just him playing the game as it comes to him?
BRIAN KEEFE: Playing the game as it comes to him. He was decisive tonight. When he was quick, when he made a quick move, didn't hold the ball, he made good plays for us.
When we did that as a team we were pretty good offensively. You know, when we get stagnant against any team that's going to be a problem, but I think he's being more decisive.
Q. And the Wizards, third in turnovers committed on average for the season. Second unit has had some of the games where they just keep coughing it up, allowing leads to keep growing. Have you stressed anything about ball security or decision making in game or just...
BRIAN KEEFE: Talking about one of the things you got to do with them is have spacing and play with pace. If you get in tight they're handsy, they're active, they're tight in their shell. That's going to cause that for any team.
Like we did in the second quarter, some good lessons for us there. When you play with pace and have good spacing the decisions reveal itself. I thought we made the right decisions. We just weren't consistent enough with it through the game.
Q. What have you seen out of Sharife get better at since he was in the G-League coming up to the NBA?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think you see the offensive skill, his ability to keep us organized, ability to touch the paint. What I've been really happy with him is his individual defense. Picking the ball up full court, pressuring the ball, turning people. That was a big area of focus I wanted him for the year and I see a great growth with that.
Q. Alex, I know just the first game after missing a couple. The shot wasn't there. Was it more so the foul trouble keeping him out of rhythm or just one of those nights where the shot didn't go for him?
BRIAN KEEFE: I thought he was aggressive. Thought he took the right shots. Some just didn't go down. If he makes a few of those it's a different game.
But no concern about that at all.
Q. I know you're very much about the process and doing the right habits. In the fourth quarter you called a couple quick timeouts. Was it to simply address the way they were playing as they had been and you wanted to get those corrections done quicker, or was it something that you were seeing that you just needed to have that conversation?
BRIAN KEEFE: Well, couple things. Just wanted to make adjustments. Sometimes in these games you talk about -- you got to talk about how you lost the lead, but you don't talk about how you came back or got leads or cut things.
We want to remind them we're doing the right things. Let's get back to that. Let's continue to play with pace. They're switching now. Let's make quick decisions. Let's not try to play one on one. I thought we made some good adjustments coming out of the timeouts.
But, yeah, you want to make a quick adjustment to that. That's what we did in the fourth.
Q. What have subsequent evaluations of Trae's quad -- Trae Young's quad revealed?
BRIAN KEEFE: Still in the evaluation process. No update.
Q. As you know, Will Reilly played 40 minutes tonight. At what point does someone play so many minutes that it's actually counterproductive to his development?
BRIAN KEEFE: You're never going to hear me say that. So, no. No counterintuitive to his development. Want to see him out there. We are short on bodies, we all know that. No, no big deal.
Q. I wanted to talk about Tristan. 13 points in halftime and then ended tonight 21 points and shot five of six going into halftime. Could you just talk about his development and how he's grown so far this season?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, Tristan is a good offensive player. He obviously was a big help for us when he came in end of the first, start of the second. Gave us a burst there when we were struggling with the score.
But I've been pleased with Tristan. It's more like Sharife, his growth on the defensive end. One of the better bigs in the league in terms of just disruptions, getting his hands on the ball. His offensive game is continuing to grow. We know the shotmaking and play making ability.
He's still learning all the things we're talking about schematically, but made some big jumps and been really pleased that.
Q. Last year one of Tristan's -- last season one of Tristan's development goals was to play with a little bit more toughness. So given that that was one of the goals in the past, is it actually a good sign to see that he would get into some scuffles? I know the goal is to win and out play the opponent. To see that kind of -- that he's not backing down against some cases larger, tougher guys?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think the one thing I've always been impressed with Tristan from day one when he walked into our gym here two years ago. He's not scared. He's played in all types of environments in his life. There is not a fear from him. He's going to attack the game. I don't think that's changed at all since he's been here.
Kudos to him.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports