(Photo: NBC Sports Washington)
There is no secret that the Washington Wizards are the best and most lethal version of themselves when Markieff Morris is playing well. Case in point, last season's 17-game home winning streak when the power forward looked unstoppable. After nursing an ankle injury from last May and surgery to repair a sports hernia, Morris may now be ready to show the world again why the Wizards are arguably the second best team in the East. Here is what Washington's muscle had to say at the team's shootaround ahead of hosting the Knicks.
On winning 7 of last 10 overall:
“We’re figuring [it] out, you know. Getting back to how we used to play, passing the ball a lot more, being unselfish with each other. We knew this would happen. We knew what team we are, what we’re capable of.”
On winning 7 of last 8 at home feeling like last season:
“Yeah, we never really lost the feeling. We just got to tweak a couple of things. Think I said a couple weeks ago, we’re going to turn the corner. Just trying to keep everybody with us. Don’t jump off the bandwagon yet. We’re doing some good things like we did last year.”
On the up and down season:
“When we lose, we can’t dwell on it. Everybody lose. You don’t win at everything you do. Whether it is to a good team or a bad team, we know what we have to do to compete. That’s what we got to do at the end of the day, go out there and play together and compete. When you take a loss, you just have to move on and prepare for the next game.”
On his health:
“I would say, I’m 100 percent now. My weight is down, my legs are under me. Just took a long while.”
On increased rebounding recently:
“The way I look at shit, I ain’t scoring, I got to put in, I need to do something out there. If the shots ain’t falling for me, I got to do something.”
On players who check their stats and social media during halftime:
“That’s when you ain’t focused. … I play shitty, I know I played shitty. I don’t need somebody to verify that for me.”
On the next step for the Wizards this season:
“Stay consistent. Being a team game, team defense, team offense. That’s basically it. We got enough talent, the same exact team from last year.”
On recent three-point shooting surge:
“Shit, guess we getting hot. It’s an up and down league, up and down season.”