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
He's right there with (Red) Auerbach and you've got to give him his kudos. He's done something remarkable and has an opportunity to do something even more.
I don't think I ever had any enjoyment in the playoffs until you won.
I don't know if Shaq called him; it could have been the other way around. Double-check who called who and then I think the whole thing might change around a little bit. But that's friendship more than anything else. I can assure you Shaquille wouldn't have went public with it.
I didn't even want to get into that subject. We have been over it, under it, on top of it. I don't know, you can just see it coming off his hand better and he feels confident.
I didn't even know he was going to play. He hasn't been able to condition because he hasn't been playing basketball. We've got to get him court time.
He plays the game that we need him to play. He is just so committed defensively and offensively on missed shots and loose balls.
Great effort springs naturally from a great attitude.
If he's put in that role every single night, he'd average 20 points per game. You sort of forget a little bit how good he can be when he gets a number of good opportunities.
If he's out we're scrambling a little bit. But I can't find a point guard out there I would play anyhow other than in practice. If there's one out there that's going to come in and be a starter, bring him to me. If there's one out there that's going to play significant backup minutes where is he?
If I had a bunch of young, real healthy-had-a-lot-left-in-the-tank racehorses, they'd be three, four hours a day and just loving it. But this is not that kind of team. The team's got a lot of miles on it, but they've still got a lot of talent and you've got to train them a little differently.
I can assure you that Shaquille isn't the one that went public about it.
He's very methodical. He took in the film today and saw what teams (do). He knows what they do. He's so good that he can get through defenses and creases and cracks. He slowed it down a little tonight. He really took a look at the defense.
He's very instinctual in traffic and landing and so a lot of times he will fall to the ground and tumble. He's really a good tumbler. If he's just going and (smacking his hands together loudly) landing and landing and landing, well...
He told me how exciting it was to coach and that I would probably love it. That was very encouraging.