On Zakai Zeigler’s career-high 15 assists, how well he’s playing point guard:
“Well, he is. I told him that I’d rather him have 19 (assists) and no turnovers. But he’s so competitive. He’s just so competitive. He did a good job. We felt we could get some of those over-the-tops. And he wants to do that. And if we ever get post guys consistently running to the rim, they can do that. He’ll be willing to do that. And when we put the shooters out there, it does open up the court.
“They made some, I think, terrific in-game adjustments, where they were in the gaps, and we went to a side-ball screen early. Got a couple there, they actually turned Zakai over there one time, where I thought he tried to do a little bit too much with it. They jumped out there almost like a hard double team. Just the way he disrupts everything, even defensively. But when he’s moving the ball like that, he’s starting to really understand his teammates. I think the more that he’s out there — he and Chaz are starting to get a little bit more of a connection to it, and he and Jordan (Gainey) have one. And when we go to that small lineup, Shack (Jahmai Mashack) gives us a chance to play so many different ways.
“But really happy with D-Stone (Darlinstone Dubar) tonight. He didn’t get in the second half just because of the flow of the game, the matchups, everything we had to go with. And I just know that Igor (Milicic Jr.), and Felix (Okpara), and Cade (Phillips), and D-Stone are really going to be a big part of us going forward. And I tell them every day they’ve got to get better, but we all got to get better.”
