Warriors-Wizards postgame: How Bazemore thinks Damion Lee, who blamed himself for the loss, will bounce back: “He gonna hit 6 threes tomorrow”
Kerr would prefer to foul up 3 with 10 seconds left, not 19 + MORE…
Here are notes & quotes from Warriors-Wizards postgame, with Steve Kerr, James Wiseman, Damion Lee and Kent Bazemore.
More videos will be up by tomorrow on our YouTube channel, but the clickable one atop this article is on D.Lee blaming himself for tonight’s loss, and Baze being the voice of reason again, instilling confidence and encouragement by insisting to Lee in the locker room that he’ll hit six triples against the Houston Rockets on the back-to-back game tomorrow at home.
KERR:
- frustrating? “Three point lead with under twenty seconds to go you gotta close that out…48 minutes that matter so it’s not just one play…we weren’t ready to go in the first half…very poor…didn’t have energy.”
- Damion: “well, it’s a tough play…there’s a 2-on-1 on the back side…if he can deliver the pass then sure, it’s the right play. I’ve been there…we’re all gonna lose sleep…really really tough loss…gotta bounce back.”
- foul up 3? “19 seconds at the start so we did not want to foul at that point…usually later in the clock under ten…that offensive rebound killed us.”
- late game losses: “yeah they all hurt, they all hurt…rough go in many ways…four or five games that we’ve left out there…not a whole lot we can do about it now.”
- Lopez and Len 35? “Lack of energy, we weren’t pulling over from the weak side…we weren’t playing with any energy.”
- fouling vs physicality? “No…good job of not fouling…the one at the end hurt, but it happens…fouling was not the issue, just overall lack of aggressiveness…our weak side defense.”
- second unit rhythm? “I hope so…hit Washington with a quick 6-0 run…couldn’t quite get it done (with closing out squad).”
- second unit? “Good pick and roll combination (Poole/Wiseman)…the group complements each other pretty well.”
WISEMAN:
- recap? “Tough loss, that’s all I gotta say.”
- mood of team? “Kind of down, like, the energy was super-low.”
- second straight good game? “It feels good…I’m most definitely gaining confidence…I just stay in the gym.”
- Len and Lopez? “it was crazy how he made the hook shot from the short corner…gotta just use my length instead of just jumping at everything.”
- Lopez? “A lot of tricks…holding my arm…I still don’t know how he made that shot in the short corner.”
- up and downs, how fun this year? “Super-fun…I’m most definitely getting better…I’m just gonna keep going.”
- energy picked up? “Still trying to work on my defense…kept my head up. Dray got on me…and Steph…it’s just a work in progress basically.”
- better team than tonight? “Totally better team…lost character…get that win and just keep going (with another game soon).”
DAMION:
- last play? “Slipped out, open for a second, Draymond made a great pass…try to make a basketball play…turned it over, that’s on me…I gotta be better…can’t cost us the game.”
- tough losses? “It’s tough. For me personally I gotta be better…we should continue to hold each other accountable and close games out…some games like these, the more games you have like these, the tougher it is.”
- left alone? “The guys showed support…going up to that point we had a chance and I, uh, I tricked it off…come back ready for Houston tomorrow.”
- lack of energy first half: “our rotations were kind of just a half second late…being able to play in the pocket and score whether it was Lopez or Len and Brad and Russ were looking…second half we were able to tighten our shell.”
- second unit: “guys that are interchangeable, able to get guys shots…come off ball screens…not really one guy is set in one position…1 thru 4…Loon.”
- help b2b? “Um, I mean, yeah, I guess you could say that but every loss hurts…this is one I take complete onus on…”
BAZEMORE:
- how to process? “We’re getting better, it’s a process to winning…this league it’s gonna kick you when you’re down…you gotta give them credit…we had a chance…it’s the NBA, it’s a hard league…I’m here to keep us even-keeled…we just need to get our foot in the door.”
- 10th seed? “I was in the Bubble (doesn’t matter what seed)…this is a finicky league…we got the best player in the league…keep hitting that stone and it’s gonna crack.”
- do tomorrow? “Harping on the things…few weeks ago (don’t have a chance to win)…take their record away (Russ and Beal better team than their record).”
- tough loss: “Putting it together for 48 minutes then doing it again and doing it again…a lot of things thrown at us…we putting pressure to be great in one day…Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
- Damion: “he gonna hit six threes tomorrow, I told him…always a blow to the mentality…we got a game tomorrow.”
- how? “It’s all about rhythm…we can always look at the outcome…if you dissect the game, more positives…hard league to win.”
“Go Dubs.”
- where can I get that hat? “We figuring it out…shout out Lee Elders…I got Spieth taking it…it’s gonna be a good weekend. Go Dubs, man.”
Warriors PR: that’s it, no shootaround, so no Steph tonight.
/end