NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 13, 2024

P.J. Washington Jr.

Dallas Mavericks

Practice Day

Q. What was the film session like today?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: I think it was good. I think we're all in good spirits. We learned a lot from obviously yesterday, the past few games. I think it will be good.

Q. What are some of the things you got planned?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: A bunch of things I don't really want to talk about now. I think our mentality and our focus has to be better.

Q. What did you learn coming back to be able to get it within a one-possession game, to take into Game 4?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: We're just playing free, having fun. That's what led us to come back in the game. I think that's a big reason why we had a good run in the fourth quarter. We need to get back to that.

Q. What has been the biggest challenge of this Celtics team? What's the key to getting over the hump?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: They're a great team. They're one of the best teams in basketball. I think the biggest thing is to try to pay attention to details. We can't have too many mistakes playing a team like them. They make you pay for your mistakes. They've done a good job of that every game in the series. We have to try to limit our mistakes.

Q. How have you managed your emotions, dealing with the intensity of the Finals so far that you didn't necessarily know about coming into these Finals?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: For me, I mean, I'm not too emotional off the court. Everything focused on basketball. Just try to take it one thing at a time. Just try to learn from everything while we're out here.

Q. What is the biggest lesson you learned as a basketball player being in the Finals that you didn't anticipate?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: All the media (laughter). It's a lot more media than I expected. But I think it's fun. I think it's good for basketball, as well. It's great.

I mean, I'm having a lot of fun and I'm just excited to be here, as well.

Q. When you got the 13-point lead, what happened after that? Everything went so wrong.

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: I think we kind of got away from playing free, like I said. I think our best two quarters were the first and the fourth. We just got to get to playing free, not overthinking, just playing our game.

Q. You were a point forward at the beginning of the game. I don't know if that was by accident or design. Some of the better moments for Dallas came when you were playing free. Was that by plan for you to handle the ball a little bit more? How did it go in terms of your role?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: Throughout the whole Playoffs, I've been bringing the ball up a lot. That's just the coach trusts me with, bringing the ball up. I just try to get us into a good play, good set, try to run what we're running. It's just simple things like that.

I think for us, it's about pace, just trying to get the ball up, get in our offense.

Q. Fourth game is always the toughest to win in the series. How much of that do you take into it, especially being on your home court?

P.J. WASHINGTON JR.: I think it's all about our mentality. We're not just going to lay over. At the end of the day, we have to come out and take it one quarter at a time, just try to work our way back.

At the end of the day, it's just going to be a lot of physical altercations going on with us. Just try to go out and have fun.