Media Availability: Head Coach Brian Keefe and Kyshawn George | 11.16.25

Media Availability: Head Coach Brian Keefe and Kyshawn George | 11.16.25

We started off okay. We were turning them over to start the game, but I think when adversity hit us. Um, that’s what I was disappointed at. We buckled to the adversity. Um, we fouled when we shouldn’t. Um, we didn’t dig in when they were made certain runs. This group has never done that. That was disappointing on all of our end. We have to own that. But that was the thing that was bothered me the most is that once after the initial start of the game, which I thought we came out with the necessary mindset and attitude, once we got hit, we didn’t respond well. How did Alex getting into foul trouble and Keshan for that matter affect your paint defense? Um I, you know, those things are factors, but we made silly fouls, so we got to own that. Like we made some silly mistakes and we fouled when we shouldn’t. We grabbed guys when we shouldn’t that contribute to the cause of those things. We got to play through those things. That’s what we did not do tonight. After a game where you say that the team did not respond well to adversity, what is the message that you have for them afterward? I think it’s we got to collectively look at ourselves. Look inward. What can we do better? Come together as a unit. Well, you have a a good group of human beings, a good group of guys in our locker room. They’re disappointed in what they did. I know that we all are. We’re all in this in the collective, but that’s not up to the standard that we’ve established how we want to do things. We did not respond well tonight. How do you try and change what the response looks like in game as a coaching staff? There’s always things you’re try levers you’re trying to pull. Obviously, we took some certain units out. We put some other guys in. Um we could never We found a couple little runs there to to help stave off the game, but we could never really get over the hump, and that was the mindset that we just couldn’t fix tonight. Season high in shooting percentage for the Nets tonight. Did you see the level of defensive effort and intensity that you wanted from I thought they were just too comfortable from the get-go. Um we did turn them over early. Our force was there, but after that the contest level, the force, the the scramble, the hustle to make these things contested to make them miss, I did not think was there. Brian, year-over-year, where do you see any improvement in the defense? Well, obviously we got to look at we have not we were not good tonight. I’m just going to go out comment what we did tonight was not acceptable. Um not to the level that we think we can be at. Um but again, it was just we did not respond when we got hit and we we gave into that and that was the disappointing part tonight. What did you It seemed like, correct me if I’m wrong, the Nets had a lot of success on back door cuts. Um an unusual amount probably or at least a lot of it. Uh what did you see there in terms of why those those miscues occurred? Yeah, those are the breakdowns that were bothering us that that led to either layups or open threes. Um that stuff is not what we obviously wanted to do, but that’s the standard that we didn’t have tonight. We we were not communicating. Our energy level wasn’t at the at the level it should have been. And then when you do certain things like that, you’re going to give up easy baskets. Coach, with Keshan in particular, 29 points tonight, but big picture-wise, when you look at what he’s been able to do over the season, what impresses you most about his development? He’s growing. Um, you can obviously see that from what he’s doing offensively, um, his ability to play out of pick and roll, make reads, obviously the shooting and scoring. U, but like, you know, he would say the same thing. He wasn’t up to what his level, even though he scored tonight, he was not at the level that he can be at either. And that’s the whole group. Uh Calvin Brown, knowing that you didn’t like the defense that your team um did today, what would you implement in practice for the next couple of days to kind of drive them on the defensive side of the floor? I think that’s something we’re going to analyze after when we get back home tonight when we start looking at the film where we can be better. Um it always starts with me. I’m going to look inward first for sure, but we got to do that as a collective group and we’re going to get back after it. Brian, the one thing you’ve talked about with this group is the humanity that they have, but also their own accountability. How does that allow you to have this candidate of a conversation with them, sharing your disappointment, them sharing their disappointment with the performance tonight in the locker room? I think it’s always together. We’re doing this together. There’s a shared disappointment. We’re all It’s not anything other than that. There’s a standard that we’ve been doing that’s been set on how we work and how we play. That was not up to the standard tonight. We have to address that as a unit, as a group, and that’s what we’re going to do. Coach, how do you make your second unit works better than tonight? You know, our second unit has actually been not bad. That unit that was out there tonight, the numbers are actually been pretty decent. Obviously, they didn’t have it tonight, but that wasn’t just them. It was everybody. Um, so we’re not going to be pointing fingers at anybody here. We’re not doing that. It was the whole collective tonight. Okay. Um, Alex was called out. Um, there was a stat that came out a few days ago where he was the the player in the NBA that had to defend the most shots at the rim. It was like 50 more than any other player. What does it say about his role on the team and also about the state of of the team? Obviously, he’s our anchor of our defense. Um, probably too much at the rim and we got to close that off from our individual defense, but he’s one of the best rim protectors in the league. Hi, Coach Bali. is back in the lineup. How important is it to get a guy like him in the lineup, get getting going first in the beginning versus working him in later on in the game? Just good to have him back. Obviously, he has been in and out here with a couple things early in the season. I’m just happy to have him on the court. You can see the stuff, the positive stuff that he’s bring. He will continue to get um better accumulated to everybody. He hasn’t played with some of these guys, so just getting him out there tonight was good. and that in that lineup um coming into the third or the fourth, I’m sorry. Um with Kiss with with that group, what did you um envision? Did you envision more speed uptempo with them coming in? Got a mixture of shooting and guys who can drive um you know that group’s actually been decent like I said. Um but like I said, this was this was the whole collective tonight. Not good enough. Lot of questions. You talked about the foul trouble. Um, with Keshan and Alex, it seemed like at times they were upset with the foul calls. Did you see them respond poorly based on some of the fouls they thought were questionable? I think it was everybody. I think we had we didn’t respond to the things that went hard for us in the game. That’s the stuff we were disappointed in. Things are going to happen in the games. How do you respond? I thought we had some good moments. I thought we pushed it a little bit there in the third quarter, but we didn’t have the right response tonight. And that’s not just couple guys. I thought it was everybody. The defensive issues have were obviously apparent tonight, but they were there earlier in the season as well. For an organization that wants to build its identity on that end of the court, what is the role of the coaching staff and for you on what has happened so far and how it needs to improve? Got to look at the mirror first. That’s on me. I mean, that’s on all of us. Like I said, it’s a standard for all of us. Something we can go dig in here in the film and look, we will get we will get better. Where do you feel like you can get better as a coach? We all can get better. I’m going to look at that tonight. I’m not going to get into all that stuff with our team and myself individually, but that’s the thing is we can all improve and we’re all going to do that together. I think at halftime they said at the beginning of this second they went on 18 points in like four minutes. Um I think we’ve had too many of those stretches where we’re not focused, we’re not together. We have stretches we do what we need to do, get deflections, had like four turnovers in the first three minutes of the game. Um, it’s always the same thing, just making sure we have to be able to play 48 minutes of solid defense. What do you think, uh, was the issue with rebounding tonight? Um, same as Houston. Ball’s in the air, nobody has possession of it. Just got to go grab it. What was BK’s message to you guys after the game? He came in here and talked about how he was disappointed by the group’s inability to respond to adversity. Um, we have an off day tomorrow. You got to look at yourself in the mirror and answer the the deeper questions. It’s more than basketball. What you really want in life, what you want to build, what you want to do here as organization and just make sure you answer the question correctly and come with a correct mindset the next day. What’s the correct answer to that question? I guess we’ll see. Do you feel like the team’s defense has regressed from where it was late last season? Um, I don’t know if regress is the right word. It’s more inconsistent for sure. Um, but again, I think we’re showing stance or we play very good defense in stance where we play the worst defense in the league. So, I don’t know, more inconsistent I think was the best word. Yeah. After a game like that, do the players speak as much in the locker room to each other as Brian speaks to you guys? Uh, we had a player only meeting uh after the coach’s speech. Um, just make sure we put everything zero. Um, say what has to be said and come back with the right mindset next day. Hi, Kean. How does it feel to know like you know looking at a stat sheet you you contributed um yourself your growth how does it feel even though you guys aren’t getting the wins but your growth as a player how you how are you feeling about that? I mean I guess there’s 1% of positive and that but at the end of the day it’s what we put out out there as a team. Like it’s cool to go for 30 points in a losing team but that’s not going to bring anybody anywhere. And I think that’s, you know, what we’re focusing on is that it’s not about what we do individually. It’s what we’re about to do as a team. And right now, we’re not doing what what is need to be done as a team to go out there and compete and win. Kean, you mentioned a players only meeting just how important is it for you guys to get together as players and have those tough conversations? Um, it’s just in order to come the next day with the right mindset and be able to build something and move forward. I think we’ve just been stagnant for the past couple games and our goal is to actually get better and build something. So, just being able to speak each other with no filter and I think that will eventually help us going in the right direction. What do you think can get you out of the stagnation as a What do you think can get you out of the stagnation that you mentioned as a team? I think we just got to go out there and compete. Like there’s no other way to put it. Got to put energy out and do what we got to do on the court. How you doing, Keith? With the veterans that you have on your team right now that have already been through the adver adversity that you’re trying to go through right now, what are the things that are telling you that you know that get you through? Just got to stop like taking the game for granted and go out there and actually play. Um, it’s my first team. All the guys in lock crew have been through different teams. It’s not everywhere that you have brand new arena. Um, get a chance to play. Like I said, as a rookie, I played a lot of minutes. And just making sure that we don’t take that for granted. You got to make sure that you go out there with a dominating mindset, competing mindset every single day. You can’t take the game for granted. Thank you. Thank you. in French. [Music] The positivity [Music] [Music] CJ, Bob. Um,

Head Coach Brian Keefe and Kyshawn George spoke to the media following the matchup against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night.

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