Media Availability: Brian Keefe, Kyle Kuzma, and Daniel Gafford | 01/29/24

Media Availability: Brian Keefe, Kyle Kuzma, and Daniel Gafford | 01/29/24

I like how we battled tonight uh we were struggling a little bit early um we’d make a run they’d get up uh we’d make another run so it was our mental stamina of just kind of staying with the game plan staying focus and not letting the

Game get away I think I don’t know what the highest was it got they had biggest Le was 14 we just we kept playing we fought through some adversity through the game where we were struggling we had some tough stretches and our guys just kept grinding the game out and uh I

Think that was just great growth for us as as we trying to build this thing you ended the game on a 20 to six R something like that yeah what were the key factors there that contributed to that first of all defense I mean 20 point fourth quarter I thought our

Physicality our intensity level really ratcheted up in the fourth and then I think you saw down the stretch um we trusted the pass uh tus and and and Kyle were playing you know a little two-man game we found balal for 13 we found Jordan for one3 um

So we just we hit the open man and we just made the simple play and the trust Factor was great so I love that down the stretch for our team this that we were sharing the ball and you know Jordan didn’t have have it for a few

Possessions and he hit a big one in the corner I think you guys all remember that play um so yeah the defensive intensity and then trusting each other on the offense was great yeah Gaff I don’t think gets enough credit on our team he’s I think

He’s been doing this all year uh the big guys he was he was down there batt obviously had that huge one down the stretch there that offensive rebound that kind of sealed the game off but his defensive intensity his activity on the glass he’s been our anchor um and and I

See I see growth on him even this last couple games he’s been even better for sure in the third quarter the momentum was kind of changing they were getting a few breaks but seemed like kind of doing the things you need defensively you kind of tell that we starting sh we kept

Talking about it in the timeouts is stick with it keep battling long game we haven’t played our best yet you know when we got to the fourth quarter I thought the guys just mentally had the stamina to kind of keep competing through the end and uh you it was it was

A good finish for us you a lot two man high pick is that the choice of is that your choice or is that you trus your veterans to make the decisions down the yeah it’s it’s a great thing that um you know we kind of played a different type of pick

And roll the game before and this time we kind of inverted and had tus handling in Kyle setting so that they had talked about it in the timeout KY had brought it up let’s let’s try this but I have complete faith on it so we were just we

Were running our little Twan game game at the end and they just made kept making the right decisions and that’s what you know led to the Bal three it led to some C baskets you know then obviously tus hit some big pull-up jump shots so just trying to put those guys

In positions to be successful and I trust those guys they they made great decisions down the stretch that really carried us as we finished out the game the the three bah was obviously a big basket I think I just mentioned that him and him and Jordan P hit two big

Ones where we just made the extra pass right Play We trusted it and you know the process was great we if they had missed a shot it still would have been the right play so we’re starting to build some good habits are you prepared yet to say the

Habits are built or is it going to take much longer Josh those habits are going to be built day by day so there’ll never be something I’m saying we’re we constantly we have to keep growing as a team like and I thought that was was the

Important part of the game is that we’re still learning each other we’ll still learning each other’s teammates we’re still learning me but we’re we want to grow so that’s that’s something that’s going to be constant throughout to the final game of the year we have to keep

Improving um keep getting our habits our process better and I think examples tonight like that was good it was a good good test for us here in this building you your uh yeah I mean I haven’t quite thought about it I think I mentioned it before the game uh

I have tremendous gratitude for being here I count my blessings I started my career here with you know coach pitz and RC Buford and those guys in such a first class organization um I I have such fond memories of here and this again grateful for sure ear in the third was there something

S yeah he got his tooth uh he yeah he got a little tooth problem for sure so he we were we were dealing with that and then he came back in played some good basketball yeah the tooth was an issue sure I mean tone wise energy wise um you know I I think

Um and this is like not no it like it’s like more of a wake up call than anything like understanding when change happen there there’s a reason why change and I think everybody is coming together and um trying to finish the year off strong and um I think you guys are

Seeing it just with the togetherness and just how we’re competing um competing on a night toight basis past three games who’s um what did you make of the rebounding tonight um I mean it was it was huge in the second half you know um I think I

Had 11 Gap had of U I mean the game winning one you know uh it really helped us you know I think in the first half they had a lot of offensive rebounds that led out to kick out threes but uh we settled down a little bit on that in

The second half and it really helped so you see with the late game execution I mean it was Chris you know you guys saw in that Detroit game um you know going down the stretch you know I had the ball in my hands and um made

Some plays tonight we ran the same exact play we just switched it up a little bit cuz we you know we knew that they would switch me and um you know kind of uh go boxing the elbow so we switched it had tie you know run it orchestrated allowed

Me to get under uh some pick and rolls just to create some gravity and um you know we just made plays down the stretch uh huge three BC huge three Jordan bu um he didn’t touch the ball for about five six possessions hit a big time

Three for us so everybody was just um I think more so in the second half just our our sense of urgency was very crisp in that second half and um part of the reason why we won the game so I know you’ve only had I think one full

Practice with Brian officially as coach but um a lot of people can talk about his attention to detail I wonder what you see from that aspect yeah for sure I mean um you just look at where he’s been at in his career um the

Type of person he is um you know he had to work to get to this level and you know a lot of times um you know I think in this game when when you uh you know not necessarily play in the NBA tension to detail got to be insane and that’s him he’s

Insane um all the little things matter and um it’s rubbing off and I think you just see um the loose balls we got uh the rebounding the spacing the execution of what we’re trying to do like that’s the tension to detail we had a practice other two yesterday and um it was just

All just light and just mental focus and I think um that really helped us uh tonight so it’s great just because there some fact that you know we got some type of momentum going forward you know of course we’re going to of course we’re going to happen to be humble that we’re

In this position because you know we put oursel in this position because the way we worked most definitely our defensive effort offensive mindset we came in we were a little bit stagnant we were a little bit you know sluggish at first but we figured it out as teammates we

Figured it out in timeouts we figured it out on the Fly and we found ways to just kind of like put ourselves in the right spots at the right time to win the game I know that a lot of people contributed to but what ways did Brian Keith

Contributed to to tonight um um I mean in all areas that you know we lacked when it came to just in general it’s something that he took it’s something that he took a step to just like make kind of like the main priority you know he came in said the communication has to

Be better the sense of emergency pretty much all of the above has to be better with us and he holds guys accountable and he tells guys you know we focus on the positives we focus on the negatives after the game we focus on the things that are getting us the buckets getting

Us the stops down the stretch the end of the day those are some of the main things and he just kind of like lifts guys up you know it’s a lot of frustration when it comes to the game it’s a lot of guys get in their own head

But you know when you got a guy like him he literally is in your ear pretty much every time down the floor every time out every time we’re in a shoo around whatever he’s telling guy he’s literally like lifting guys up so that’s one of the things that I would say he’s really

Good at for sure who haven’t played team sports in a couple decades never played Pro Sports what do you mean when you say that he’s holding guys accountable um you know he’s telling guys that they’re way better than what they’re playing in all honesty they’re way better than how

They’re acting they’re way better than their body language their habits their bad habits their good habits so on and so forth so he’s pushing guys to be the best player that they can be in all honesty that’s old guys accountable in my opinion because I’ve been in that

Position before with plenty of coaches down the stretch throughout my career and it’s something that for sure something like a team like this for sure needs you set a career high for offensive rebounds uh what was going well for you in terms of collecting those felds effort pretty much I’ve

Lacked that in a lot of games throughout this year just on the offens and glass and one of the things that I really want to get better at is just my effort for sure my approach to the game setting the tone physically and just dominate at the

End of the day and that’s not that’s not going to you know happen unless I hold myself accountable to push myself to be able to do something like that if I get tired you know I can always ask for a sub but at the end of the day I just

Work hard pretty much all

Interim Head Coach Brian Keefe, Kyle Kuzma, and Daniel Gafford spoke to the media following the Wizards’ 118-113 victory over the Spurs in San Antonio.

🎥 #ForTheDistrict #Wizards #DCFamily

📲 𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪 𝗨𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗢𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟
𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 → https://www.facebook.com/Wizards
𝗧𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 → https://twitter.com/WashWizards
𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗠 → https://www.instagram.com/washwizards/
𝗧𝗜𝗞𝗧𝗢𝗞 → https://www.tiktok.com/@wash_wizards
𝗦𝗡𝗔𝗣𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗧 → https://www.snapchat.com/add/washwizards

𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗭𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧
💻 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲: https://www.nba.com/wizards
📱 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/washington-wizards/id518100653

𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗣 𝗪𝗜𝗭𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗦
🎟 𝗕𝘂𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀: https://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/806042?home_away=home&CAMEFROM=CFC_WWIZ_SOCIAL_TTO_2324SGB
🛒 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗽 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵: https://shop.monumentalsportsnetwork.com/