Pat Riley
Pat Riley
Patrick James "Pat" Rileyis an American professional basketball executive, and a former coach and player in the National Basketball Association. He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995 and head coach in two separate tenures. Widely regarded as one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time, Riley has served as the head coach of five championship teams, four with the Los Angeles Lakers and one with the Heat...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth20 March 1945
CityRome, NY
CountryUnited States of America
The demise of Shaquille O'Neal has been greatly exaggerated. I can guarantee you that - and I coach him.
A lot of them wanted 15. But they said, versus 15 or 12, they'll take 13. We finally voted to take 13 because we felt we might get 12.
They made the jumpers and put the game away. Everyone contributed. Everyone hit a critical shot.
They played an absolutely great game. They did what they had to do defensively. It didn't help us that Shaquille got in foul trouble. Any time he gets in foul trouble and has to sit down, it sets us and him back.
They got great individual play from him. And now they're finding the spirit and camaraderie to play together.
They do remember really getting embarrassed and humiliated in that game. It wasn't much fun. They were having fun because the game was so easy.
They're flying. They're sixth in the league in scoring. That wasn't the way they were last year. And they don't let you stay close anymore. You used to be able to stay close to them occasionally but sometimes now they get out there and run. They're a different team this year, but their defense hasn't suffered.
They're a great team. They can score. They can stop. That's why they're who they are.
There's a real heaviness to our team and I feel it. I'm trying to lighten it up. Because there are so many distractions and so many things going on, it's heavy and it wears on guys. We don't want this. We want to win. We are winning, but we're not winning at the rate people want us to win.
About a week ago, I was really concerned about it. They cut it to two. I thought they were going to run the string. It's good to get this. But it doesn't mean much unless you use it.
That team's never going to stop coming. We found that out in Game 1; we found that out again tonight.
You don't want to bring that up. We've had a lot of disappointment here. They've taken off a number of layers of skin, but they've since healed.
This is the time of year the enthusiasm should be coming to an all-time high.
This is to see whether the two years, all the drill work and all the hard work have manifested itself into something positive for him. It should be something he should be eager to do.