Tag: Washington Wizards

(13-28) WASHINGTON WIZARDS, 111 VS. (27-14) TORONTO RAPTORS, 140 SCOTIABANK ARENA FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 2020

TORONTO RAPTORS QUOTES

NICK NURSE (HEAD COACH)

On it being fun to watch a game with 35 assists and 140 points… Yeah, most of it was and I think even the bigger maybe number is creating 28 turnovers. I thought we were out guarding right from the start and disrupting their rhythm, jarring the ball loose. Our hands have been pretty good lately and getting us out running. I think the pace certainly helps us and obviously the passing and the shooting were good too.

On it being easier to get threes when the ball is moving like tonight… Well it is good when we play that way. I think that it is good to look down and see a number of guys in double figures and we had a bunch of guys shooting some high percentages. You know ebbs and flows; we have certainly had our one-for-nines and two-for-12s and it’s nice to get a couple six-for-sevens and five-for-sevens in there.

On OG Anunoby being back in a simplified role… I think there is always a couple of ways to look at this and I think different players react differently. When sometimes you look over there and you know that you are going to not come out, I have had those discussions with Norm (Powell) a few times, Norm would be like two-for-eight and I would be like, Norm I can’t take you out so could you make a couple here in the fourth quarter and he would or whatever. Some guys, maybe when they know that they have got to play well or there is going to be somebody else over that is healthy to come in and play, some guys react to that a little better. I can’t explain it, what I do like is he has had to guard smaller guys here the last couple of nights and he has really got out there and worked on his man, but his hands have been great. He is really been in the lane off his man tipping a bunch away to get us going and he has been out on the front of the break a little bit.

NORMAN POWELL (28 points, five rebounds)

On having time off and having fresh legs… I think it was good to be able to work with the injury. I was able to be on the court fairly quickly. They cleared me to be able to just start shooting and things like that. Working a lot with Pat Mutombo and we were trying to simulate game situations, game speed, a lot of conditioning, a lot of running just to keep myself adjusted to the pace of the game, and I think that really helped.

What has clicked offensively for the team the past couple of games? I think we are trusting one another, we are moving the ball. We are letting the offence work for us and I think the defence is really feeding the offence, able to get out there in transition and create easy looks, having the defence scrambling to get back and catch up and being able to kick out and continues to have them rotate.

Thoughts on the first half of the season… I think it has been really good. In a NBA season you never really know what’s going to happen, there are a lot of variables, but I think this team has done a great job of taking it on the chin, adjusting to it with the injuries and things like that and taking advantage of the opportunity. Playing together, playing hard and trusting the coaches, trusting one another and I think that’s what you need as a team going through an 82 game season. A lot of things are going to happen, but as long as we trust in one another, we figure it out along the way we will be good and I think we’ve done that really well.

MARC GASOL (20 points, six rebounds, five assists)

On the time off being a benefit in many ways… You always think positively on whatever happens to you. Obviously sitting for a few weeks kind of makes you itch a little bit and makes you want to really play and get back and help your team win.

What has clicked for the team offence the past couple of games? I think defensively that’s what has clicked. Defensively we create a lot of turnovers that allows us to run and create easy buckets and that kind of creates that momentum for us where it’s communicating, being unselfish, moving the ball. I think it starts defensively for us and that consistency and that trust allows us to run and you are not afraid of getting the ball go through your hands because you are going to get it back.

KYLE LOWRY (11 points, assists)

On teams offence the past few games… Just getting a rhythm, getting guys back. Marc (Gasol) helps tremendously, honestly. Pascal (Siakim) helps and putting guys back in their right spots and just being able to take advantage more of the mismatches,and being able to play through Marc a lot more.

On the team’s performance at the halfway mark of the season… All this stuff doesn’t matter. We wait until we get to the part of April, May, June. That’s what we play for, but right now we are just going to continue to get better and work.

(13-28) WASHINGTON WIZARDS, 111 VS. (27-14) TORONTO RAPTORS, 140 SCOTIABANK ARENA FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 2020

WASHINGTON WIZARDS QUOTES

SCOTT BROOKS (HEAD COACH)

On the 28 turnovers… That’s a physical ball team. That’s a team that has a lot of length, a lot of strength and they got into us. We started the game off with turnovers and a lot of them were uncharacteristic ones, but some of them were because they are a good defensive team. They’re an experienced team, they are long, they are tough and they were clicking. We played a championship team tonight that was clicking on all cylinders and when that happens everything seems to fall. I thought they made a couple of tough threes that went their way. Like I said, that’s a good team. We didn’t play well, we turned the ball over.

On the Raptors disrupting the offensive flow… They took us out of our offence. We’ve been really good at moving the ball and flying around, moving our bodies and they were physical. They were physical right from the start. A simple exchange, a simple movement they were touching us up. We’ve got to be able to fight through that and we didn’t do a good job with that tonight. Like I said, give them credit. That’s what they do and they did it at a high, high level tonight.

On Isaac Bonga’s career night… It’s good to see his growth. He continues to just get a little better every day and that’s what we want all of our guys to do. Tonight was his night to grow up a little bit and I thought he did, on both ends of the court, he was competing and he made plays. The growth chart sometimes is not as fast as we want but I like it to always move it the right direction, and with Bonga it definitely has from the moment we got him, he’s gotten much better.

TROY BROWN JR. (22 points, eight rebounds, three steals)

What do you think led Toronto to score a season high tonight? A lot of things; transition points, turnovers, they were hitting a lot of threes. It was just a mix of stuff and we didn’t do a good job of coming out and executing the game plan and just … the effort today was low. Like I said, I didn’t feel like we came out and did a good job.

At the midway point of the season, where would you say this team is? We’re still developing. We’re still trying to get some stuff together and just figure out roles and stuff. I think the biggest thing right now is just guys are coming back from injuries, and so we’re just trying to figure back out where everybody fits. You know, we have to make adjustments based off of people being out, so when you’re winning games like that it’s just hard to implement guys into the system and kind of get them back where they were going. We’re trying to figure it out and just trying to go out and play as hard as we can, and today I didn’t feel like we had a great effort.

On the 22-point performance… For me personally, just kind of seeing (Isaac) Bonga go out there and be aggressive, and go out there and rebound the basketball, stuff like that. For me personally, it made me want to go out there and play hard and be aggressive and be assertive. You know, especially because we both probably, I feel like, kind of play in the same position and kind of get the same touches and so for him to come out as aggressive as he was … that was good to see him go out there and do that. I just wanted to kind of follow his lead.

BRADLEY BEAL (14 points, three assists)

From your perspective, what led to the 28 turnovers? Just weren’t strong with it. A lot of careless ones. I had a couple myself. Just being strong with it, being more precise with our decisionmaking and making firmer passes, good passes. A lot of them were throwing lob passes. They’re a long athletic team. I think the last three teams we’ve played have been like that, so we just have to be better at getting open and making ourselves available and just making the simple pass.

How did the defence get away from you with Toronto’s three-point shooting tonight? They made us work. They made us scramble. They did a good job of putting good lineups out there. (They have) numerous guys who can shoot and numerous guys they can put on the floor. So you know, they just did a good job scheme wise. We just have to be better knowing personnel, knowing that once one guy hits it we kind of have to treat him like he’s hot and kind of get him off the line, but we didn’t do that tonight. We turned the ball over and when you give up threes you’re not going to win.