LOS ANGELES — Late Monday night, after the Washington Wizards had absorbed a 19-point loss to the Lakers, Wizards coach Brian Keefe stepped into a near empty interview room. The audience for Keefe’s postgame autopsy was small. No beat writers, no local digital outlets. Just a team videographer, a sideline reporter and one curious magazine writer.
Keefe’s tone was upbeat. He said he liked what his team did in the first quarter, when the Wizards squeezed out a one-point lead. He liked the resiliency the team showed in the third. The second half got away from Washington, but Keefe saw positives to take from it. “We’re putting some guys in situations to learn and grow,” said Keefe. “There’s things that we’re constantly talking about and we’re learning that stuff within the game, which is great.”
