Miami Heat-140, Washington Wizards-117
Q. Brian, just what do you think made the difference for them tonight?
BRIAN KEEFE: They shot the ball extremely well, first of all. Give them some credit. They were able to get down into our paint, make some layups, and then they were pretty hot from three. Fontecchio really got going there too.
We shot the ball pretty well above, and Bilal really had it going there in the third quarter, but we didn't get enough stops, and that was the difference in the game.
Q. What do you think about the front court defense against Ware and Bam?
BRIAN KEEFE: I didn't think it was too bad. They hurt us a little bit on the glass, but nothing too crazy there. It was really the drives. That's really their game. Give them some credit for that. They're a team that really drives the ball. Their individual defense probably wasn't as good as it should have been.
Q. Coach, Bub had a obviously really nice game today. What did you see from him?
BRIAN KEEFE: Playing a little bit off the ball, which we've been doing a little bit of that lately. Ran him off some pin-downs and some different actions and dribble handoffs. Obviously had it going from three tonight, but Bub's shooting has been pretty elite this year. Off the catch, off the dribble pretty unique player. Obviously had a night going tonight.
Q. Did his shooting kind of go into what you expected to happen at the beginning of the season?
BRIAN KEEFE: He was a pretty good shooter. I think he showed through the consistent work he's done all year and throughout last summer. He's just gotten better with it, more comfortable with it.
Q. For him was it one of those nights where once he saw two of those really tough threes go down, he kind of knew, like, okay, tonight is going to be a go ahead night for me?
BRIAN KEEFE: Probably, yeah. When the ball goes in, some of those tough ones at the end of the shot clock, that can get your confidence going. But, like I said, he's been shooting the ball well all year.
Q. Coach, you mentioned that Bub was playing a little more off the ball getting shots off, and I know that in times this year he was sometimes playing at the point guard position.
BRIAN KEEFE: Yep.
Q. Do you see which position that he's stronger at, or do you see a little more of improvement, or do you want more improvement either/or?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think that's the beauty of him. Especially in today's game, you're going to have be to able to play on the ball and off the ball, and that's something he's really good at.
He can organize us, get us into our sets, but he can also be a secondary play, a guy who can play off other guys. I think that's really where the NBA is. There are so many guys who can make decisions. When we were full, we have multiple ball handlers. He was just one of them, and today we were running some different actions.
Especially there in the second half we had Bilal bringing the ball, running some actions to get him shots. He was obviously able to knock them down. To be versatile like that is a great strength, and we're happy we have him for that.
Q. This is a big-picture question. Last home game of the season. One more game left in the season. When you look at what this team has been able to do this year, wins and losses aside, what comes to mind for you?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, I probably will address that a little bit more after the last game and probably my next press conference I guess on Monday. We still have one more game, and I think that's the thing about our team is that that's how we look at things. We don't skip steps. We don't get ahead of ourselves. We stay in the moment, and we got another game to prepare for.
But the one thing I can say about that a little bit is that I like how our guys prepare, train, and do those things, and I think those are things that are going to lead to us being consistent.
Q. For some of your young guys, like Kyshawn, Tre, Alex here down the end of the season, not really getting the reps here because they've been injured. In what ways are they still able to get some type of process down here with this game experience without actually being on the court?
BRIAN KEEFE: You know, doing film work, working on their bodies, studying the game. Like, our guys are learners. They want to get better. So they take every opportunity, whatever that takes shape in. Those guys do that.
So you are always getting better and always taking advantage of every knowledge that they can find, talking through some of our newer older players who have knowledge to share, too. All that stuff is helpful going forward where.
Q. How beneficial do you feel like it's been for Bilal to finally get to play at the end of the season here?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, it's the first time he's been able to do that since I've been here. I think it's been great for him. He got to put the ball in his hands. He had a nice long stretch of games where he got to really be himself and get a rhythm with his game. I think he's showing great improvement with that, so I think it's been really helpful.
Q. Bub, he's going back to even last year down the stretch of the season he always puts together a nice stretch of games. What can you say about him during, like, the dog days of the season when people are probably, you know, not really into the games, but he's still going at it?
BRIAN KEEFE: I don't know if it was Josh who asked me before the game, but he's just available. He wants to play. He wants to compete. It's a great quality to have, and he wants to play until the very end, and that's never changed with Bub.
Q. Well, tonight for the fans, have you got any message for them overall about anything?
BRIAN KEEFE: Yeah, I said to our guys afterwards, I always like watching our guys interact with our fans. They do a tremendous job of that, and you know, I'm out in the community with things we have to do with the team where we are meeting ticketholders and season ticketholders and things like that.
We're very blessed. We have people who are really supportive of us, supportive of our players, and I think our guys are always really -- in situations like tonight when they get to celebrate with the fans and stuff like that, it's fun to see.
I appreciate the support they've given us through the whole year, and that means a lot to me and our group. So that's always nice to be able to celebrate them on a night like tonight.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports