On the team's ability to stay poised and close the game on a 14-2 run after Detroit made a push:

"I like the fact that we responded to that. They made their push. They came back a couple possessions by us letting them off the hook. They did a great job of speeding us up and not allowing us to get into our stuff. That's the time that we got to continue to settle down, find our poise. On the other side of it, we get stops to get out and run to get the easy baskets."

On Detroit's start to the fourth quarter and how his team handled the finer details:

"They made a push, which every great team does. They're the number one team in the East for a reason. I watched them play against Oklahoma City with that same group and come back and get it tight. Got down from 21 at one point. Did the same thing to Atlanta. So they're the number one team in the East for a reason. They win these for a reason because they're not going to quit. Their ability to put pressure on you, get downhill, attack the basket, play with that level of confidence — that's what they've done. Our ability to withstand that run, knowing that teams go on runs, we've got to just continue to be smart about it. How we get down when we get down or when we get up. We just got to continue to play our style of basketball."

On whether the team (now 4-2 in their last six) is finding responses to the earlier losing streak and starting to find their way:

"We said we want to be playing our best basketball around this time. Winning four out of the last six says something about what we're doing. It may not always be pretty in every game, but we've got to find ways to win. Doing this on the second night of a back-to-back, you got to give our guys a ton of credit for responding that way. It's going to take the moments where we have to do that through film. We have to do it through practice because AB is coming back, Fron is coming back. All those pieces being put back together in the puzzle, we've got to make sure that we're communicating at the highest level and playing our style of basketball."

On his confidence level with this group and what it needs to reach a 10/10:

"The way I feel about this group is that the sky's the limit when we continue to communicate with each other, talk to each other, know where our bread is buttered — it's the defensive end of the floor and then being able to get the stops to get out and run and continue to trust the pass. The fact that over the last three games we're averaging close to 31 assists, so they're sharing and moving the basketball. We got to make sure that we're just continuing to sit down and guard."

On being impressed with the group after winning three in a row while staying committed to the process:

"That's a really good question. It's just continuing to find the details in everything. The small pieces within the game. How do we execute at the end of quarter? How do we stop a run? All of those little small pieces within the game are very important and I think that's what it looks like down the stretch. Guys found a way to do that tonight. They did a great job of communicating the things that they wanted down the stretch and how we had to accomplish that. That was big for our group."

On Wendell Carter Jr. and Jamal Cain not returning (left calf):

"I haven't had a chance to talk to him and I haven't had a chance to talk to Jamal Cain. We'll just look at it moving forward."

On Jalen Suggs' growth as a playmaker and passer (12 assists tonight):

"He was a quarterback for a reason. His vision, the way he sees the floor, what he sees on the court — I think that's big for us. When he plays with that level of poise of getting guys involved, attacking downhill, not getting sped up all the way, and then being able to find guys, I think that's so important and critical for us as he continues to be our playmaker and command the floor."

On what he saw from AB in his first game back after nearly a month:

"Just trying to find his rhythm. Playing the stints that he played is never easy to do in these moments, but just trying to find a rhythm. First it was defensively turned up, gave us a couple steals, got out in transition, being able to get to the basket a little bit — just knocking the rust off. I think that's part of it. That's going to be watching this film back, getting a little bit of practice time, and then playing the next game."

On the added defensive focus, especially forcing live-ball turnovers:

"You talk about it as winning plays and those are the plays that matter. Those are the 50/50 balls that you get a hold of, that you get on the floor, be the first one on the ground to get to the basketball. I think that's important. Those are what we talk about. That's what we show on film. Our guys able to make those plays because those are possessions and in this league it's about the possession game."

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