J.B. Bickerstaff | Cavs at Wizards Post Game | 2.25.2024

J.B. Bickerstaff | Cavs at Wizards Post Game | 2.25.2024

Coach that four T um the one at the end after they had tied it and after the game was tied but got that stretch your team did well yeah I thought we defended uh well when we needed to um you know again I thought we

Just need to be better I don’t think we played to our standard tonight um I expected more fire from our group after you know losing two games in a row and then having an opportunity excuse me to play another one um you know we’ve got to get back to

Playing you know with that Spirit and the way we played before the break uh we had some tough stretches coming up here uh but we’ve got to be better I’ve got to do a better job of getting guys ready to play and our players got to do a

Better job as well is there anything youbute that to the lack of fire you uh it just was a mindset thing I thought we just came out of the gate um you know looking at our opponent and not giving them the due respect um they’ve got players obviously including usma and

Jordan P who are capable of carrying teams uh and if you allow them to get a rhythm early um you know they’re going to put you in a dog fight and I thought they did that tonight I thought you know CS was fabulous you know we allowed him

To get to his spot uh didn’t execute our game c game plan coverage Personnel coverage um you know and then obviously Jordan paol got it going too so um we’ve got to be better and that’s on me um to make sure we are I thought he was good I know it’s

You know it’s tough when uh you’re out for a while come back and then you saw their game plan excuse me was to trap him and try to get the ball out of his hands but I thought he did a great job of just facilitating and making the easy

Play uh to help his teammates out when they put two on him what’s the biggest thing that you think you need to do now get uh I mean it’s a focus on our habits right now uh defensively you know understanding Personnel uh strength and weak weaknesses and forcing people to

Their weakness executing our coverages you know being more physical uh all those things I think we’ve got to continue to build those habits uh to get us where we want to go eventually you talked about the things that you didn’t do well the night but the fact of the

Matter is you’re still able to cut out a win what is that telling you about your team I mean we’ve got a good team and there’s no doubt about it um we got guys who you know do stick together uh they play well for one another um you know

They want to win so do whatever it takes to go out and try to get the win hey J hey what’s up Chris it it seemed like you were trying to match up um Jared and Donovan for for most of the game and then Evan Darius until Donovan

Picked up his fourth ball in the third quarter was was that the plan going in and what do you like about uh I mean I think they they just work well together um you know not that they can’t all play you know in the same actions together

But you know I think also you know trying to keep two of those guys on the floor um you know gives you an advantage and bringing a group against a backup unit have two of your starters that can play against backups I think is an advantage for us so uh again just trying

To find those combinations that we think work and then find the best lineups for us how do you feel about where you’re at in terms of identifying your rotations and stuff like that now that you know Darius is off the restriction and same thing that uh we’re working on it and I

Again I think you know the first half will be different than the second half uh you know guys have earned an opportunity to play so in the first half I think it’s a good thing for us uh because we can limit guys runs and limit their minutes but give everybody an

Opportunity and in the second half you know we can run guys a little bit longer but they should be fresher because we didn’t have to kill them in the first half what can it do for somebody like Darius to to have the game that he had especially quing out it’s huge for him

Um you know he he needed to see a you go in um you know obviously there’s just you know his Spirit you know how he impacts the game his confidence his belief the way his teammates feel about him so it was good for him you know to

Find his Mark especially late when the pressure was on thank you all right thanks

Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff spoke with the media following a 114-105 victory over the Washington Wizards on February 25, 2024 at Capital One Arena.