Mark Daigneault | Washington Wizards Post-Game | Jan. 11, 2022
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00:00 - Coach, you obviously got up pretty early there at 10 points,
00:03 but from that point on, it was just a back and forth,
00:05 neck and neck battle.
00:06 Just what did you think of the game flow
00:08 and how you guys were able to just kind of keep responding
00:10 to everything that they threw at you tonight?
00:13 - Yeah, it was a good game.
00:15 You know, obviously both teams played well enough
00:17 to be in it, down the stretch.
00:19 They made a couple more plays than we did.
00:21 You know, I thought offensively,
00:24 made a lot of progress tonight.
00:25 I thought we really attacked them well
00:28 based on how we played in the last game,
00:30 just overall how we played offensively this year.
00:33 A lot of positives on that end of the floor.
00:35 Defensively, weren't as sharp as we've been.
00:38 And I felt we had a hard time eliminating the penetration
00:40 and we just didn't force them to make enough plays.
00:44 And that's why they got 122 points.
00:46 But you know, all in all, competitive game,
00:49 you know, we were right there, gave ourselves a chance,
00:50 which is what you want to do.
00:52 I credit them, they got the game down the stretch.
00:54 - You talked about that offense,
00:55 64 points in the paint for you guys.
00:57 Man, it's getting in the paint,
00:58 it's the biggest, it's every single night.
01:00 But why was that so effective,
01:01 especially tonight?
01:03 - I just thought we were really quick
01:05 in terms of our decisions, you know,
01:07 with our passes and with, in our actions, you know,
01:10 we didn't hold it very much at all tonight.
01:13 And we kept the ball ahead of their defense
01:15 and it gave us some cracks to get downhill.
01:17 And I thought they actually played the same way.
01:19 You know, we had a hard time catching up to them
01:21 and catching up to the ball.
01:22 I think they had the exact same points in the paint.
01:25 And so I thought both teams offensively,
01:26 did a really good job putting the defensive disadvantage.
01:30 But to stick our offense up,
01:32 I think that pretty,
01:33 'cause of our attacks tonight.
01:35 - To that point, what'd you think of Che bouncing back
01:37 from a few, you know, rough games?
01:39 You know, last two games,
01:40 what was it like?
01:41 - Yeah, I mean, I think in the 82 game season,
01:44 obviously there's just going to be a lot of ups and downs
01:47 for every player, for teams.
01:49 You know, the thing that I always respect about him
01:51 is how steady he stays in the emotions of the season.
01:54 He sees the bigger picture always.
01:57 He is really competitive in the moment of the game,
02:00 but once the game ends, he moves into the next game,
02:02 he moves into the next day.
02:04 He's the same guy every day.
02:05 And I think that's what allows him to tap
02:08 into some consistency when he struggles.
02:10 And I also think it keeps him grounded when he has success.
02:12 And so, you know, I'm not surprised at all.
02:14 I don't know if anybody, you know,
02:16 if you're surprised by how to play him,
02:18 you have to watch him enough.
02:20 - Well, proud of you.
02:22 How are you of Derrick Spacely
02:23 and just how he seems to be just rejuvenated
02:27 as he's left the bench,
02:28 especially on the defensive end,
02:29 some of these plots he's making.
02:31 What have you seen from him?
02:34 - Well, I think, especially on the defensive end,
02:36 he's defended like this all year, you know,
02:40 and even earlier in the year, he struggled offensively
02:44 and we had our struggles at different times,
02:47 but he's defended at a really high level this year.
02:50 And I give him a lot of credit
02:52 because he's carved out an identity for himself
02:54 on that end before.
02:55 You know, he's got size, he's got athleticism,
02:58 and he's starting to adopt a mentality to go with that
03:01 that's good.
03:02 He's making a pretty high level defensive player.
03:06 And so he's continuing to do that.
03:08 And then offensively, I think he's really simplified
03:11 and is playing inside of an identity there as well.
03:14 And I think it's really helped him
03:15 and more importantly, it's helped our team.
03:17 So he gave us great minutes off the bench tonight.
03:20 He's really productive and he's really competitive again.
03:22 You feel him when he's out there
03:24 and you just got to keep getting better.
03:26 - Mark, before the game,
03:27 you said you were kind of interested to see
03:29 how your team, particularly the bench unit,
03:31 reacted to being without Henrich, 42 points tonight.
03:36 Just curious about what you saw
03:38 based on what you were curious about.
03:40 - Yeah, I thought, you know, we play a pretty good,
03:44 you know, consistent style of play from box to wire,
03:46 no matter who's in the game tonight.
03:48 I thought offensively, especially, we were really good.
03:52 You know, like I said, defensively,
03:53 that's where, you know, we moved a little bit tonight
03:56 and can make some improvements on that.
03:57 And the full response tight as we've been
03:59 for much of the season on that end.
04:01 But I thought the guys did a good job.
04:03 Ty, he was obviously really good minutes.
04:05 Trey gave us a really good minutes.
04:06 Pace, the style of play,
04:08 was those guys off the bench that were doing those jobs.
04:10 - It is 189 consecutive games
04:13 that Thunder has had to come from.
04:14 - Right.
04:16 - That's the longest streak in the last four years
04:18 and I didn't know, maybe if you had any thoughts
04:22 on what that says about maybe something
04:24 the organization's trying to cultivate
04:26 or how that streak has been kept alive.
04:28 - I think organizationally, this is a place that,
04:32 you know, we want to give players opportunity.
04:34 And usually the guys that, you know, are on the line,
04:38 you know, organization to organization
04:40 as to whether or not they get an opportunity.
04:41 The guys like the ninth guy, 10th guy, rookie players,
04:44 unproven players, undrafted players.
04:47 And I think organizationally, we've done a very good job
04:50 of first of all, populating the team
04:52 with guys that deserve opportunities
04:54 and then giving it to them.
04:55 And so, you know, we, you know,
04:58 speaking now about this team,
04:59 we want to have depth.
05:00 We want to develop a full team.
05:02 We don't want to be over-reliant on individual players.
05:06 That's what the best teams do.
05:08 And I give our guys a lot of credit.
05:09 You know, Ty's just the latest example tonight
05:13 of staying ready and then his number gets called
05:14 and goes in there and plays really well.
05:16 And so hopefully that's a byproduct
05:19 of the kind of guys we get first of all
05:21 and then the environment that's really well.
05:23 - Mark, were you okay with the shots
05:25 you got down the stretch?
05:26 Tough shooting, real quick.
05:29 - Yeah, I think so.
05:30 You know, I thought they're all different,
05:32 but the three-point shot that Dort took,
05:35 you know, that was a design play to get in that look.
05:37 And you got a clean look that was well executed
05:39 in terms of the things we can control.
05:41 And, you know, if you look at his percentages this year
05:44 on open shots, I mean, that's one
05:45 that we're gonna take there.
05:47 He got downhill on a layup where it was
05:50 at the front of the rim.
05:51 You know, I don't remember every single play,
05:54 but I thought, you know, at the end of the day,
05:56 I thought it was a defensive issue.
05:57 You know, they banked the three in,
05:58 they take a three-point lead.
05:59 But other than that, I thought, you know,
06:01 they kept the scoreboard moving
06:03 and we just couldn't outpace them in the offense tonight.
06:06 I thought the defense was more of the issue tonight
06:08 in totality.
06:09 - But back to Darius, you keep close with them tonight
06:13 and you don't always close with your starters.
06:16 Like you switched that up before.
06:17 Is that more of a matchup thing
06:19 or is it more, okay, this guy plays really well
06:21 in this game, we're gonna look better close?
06:23 - A little bit of both.
06:25 A little bit of both, you know, I think.
06:27 I think it's motivating for players
06:31 when they know that if they're adding value to the team
06:34 and impacting the team, then they're gonna be rewarded
06:36 with plenty of time for that.
06:38 I think it, number one, keeps everybody in a healthy edge.
06:43 I think, number two, it's motivating for the guys
06:45 that are bench players to know that they can earn more minutes
06:48 with how they play.
06:49 And I also think it's motivating for the guys
06:51 that are on the rotation to know that, number one,
06:53 to Nick's question, they're gonna get an opportunity
06:55 at some point, and if they do, and they do well,
06:58 then they'll be rewarded for that.
06:59 So a lot of that's just kind of team management
07:02 and that's an organizational philosophy, like I said.
07:05 But we're willing to mix it up a little bit
07:08 to try to maximize the team for ourselves
07:09 in a good position.
07:12 - We'll go to Daniel Bell.
07:14 - Yeah, Coach, only five turnovers tonight,
07:17 which is a season low for you guys.
07:20 Can you talk about how important it was
07:22 to just protect the ball, especially in a game this close
07:26 where both teams seemed like they were hitting everything?
07:29 - Yeah, I thought we had a really steady hand
07:32 with that tonight.
07:34 Obviously, that was a little bit of issue
07:35 in the Minnesota games.
07:37 And we played a really clean game on offense tonight,
07:41 from not only just the turnovers,
07:43 but I thought we had really clean shots.
07:45 I thought the ball really moved.
07:46 We really had a sense of purpose with our attacks.
07:49 And I thought the scoreboard was a reflection of that.
07:51 And so, I don't know, what did we shoot for three tonight?
07:55 I mean, we shot 28% for three tonight,
07:58 and despite that, we scored 118 points,
08:00 which I think is a reflection of ball security
08:03 and then getting really, really high quality shots
08:06 up and down.
08:07 So, I think we just got to continue
08:11 to try to put clean on that end of the floor,
08:13 but I give our guys credit tonight for how they did.
08:16 - Anything else?
08:18 Thank you, Coach.
08:20 - All right, guys.
08:21 - All right, guys. - Save travels back.
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