NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 5, 2024

P.J. Washington Jr.

Dallas Mavericks

Media Day

Q. I just asked Luka about this, entering that trade deadline, you were headed towards your fifth straight lottery. Another early exit. Two or three months later you're in the Finals, contributing heavily. What does that say about you first and the opportunity that sometimes you're on the right team to showcase your skills?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: For me, I just thought it was a great fit for me to come here and showcase what I can do. I feel like I can come in and obviously bring something to the defensive end and help us obviously get here.

For me, I'm not surprised by any of it. I just try to come in each and every day and do my job since we got here. Credit to my teammates and we've done a great job on the defensive end. We're just happy to be here.

Q. Compared to the Celtics, who have been knocking on the door of this stage for a while, you guys are almost uninvited. When do you think the shock and awe of being here is going to hit home for you?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: I'm not sure. I think whenever the games start.

Like I say, we're prepared, we're excited. We always knew our end goal was to be here. This isn't something that's surprising for us. We're excited to go out there and showcase what we can do.

Q. Are there particular things that Kyrie or Jason can impart to you to prepare you for this?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: Yeah, Ky, he's done a great job of keeping us cool, calm and collected. He's been here before obviously a number of times. Just telling us to feel every emotion, come out and be ourselves.

At the end of the day, we have to go out and win four games. That's all we’re worried about.

Q. The way you guys have defended in this playoff run, playing different schemes and style, how does that prepare you for Boston's offensive attack?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: I think it prepares us really well. I feel like we played a lot of different teams that throw different stuff at us.

Boston is a great offensive team. They pretty much have a bunch of different weapons. I feel like we've been preparing for it throughout the whole Playoffs.

I'm excited to match up with them, excited to go out there and see what we can do.

Q. "Standing on business," if you don't mind explaining what that means to you, what that means to this Mavs team, maybe how you guys have embraced that pose, the poster?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: I think for me, it's just showing people we're not going anywhere. We been a tight-knit family since I got here, since before that. Everybody has each other's back. We just use that mentality each and every day.

We're just trying to come in here and handle business, just try to get four wins.