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
Every time we see this team, and we'll see it again this week, the zone, while it doesn't bother us, it gets us out of sync. We did not play with much energy in the first four of five minutes of the game and then once we started to play with energy and got down the floor quicker things began to open up for us.
We played the game very well offensively. So much better than we did (in Friday's loss) against San Antonio.
We had a lot of shots around the basket that didn't go in. I thought we got frustrated by not getting the calls that we thought we should have got, which leads to complaining to the officials. ... There's got to be a lot more mental toughness against a team like this.
That was the first time I ever called an open isolation against a 2-3 zone. He's a remarkable player and I'm glad to have him on my team.
(Wade) was real efficient against Portland. He was 13-for-19 tonight, 11 assists. When they load up on (Heat center Shaquille O'Neal ), it makes the defense guard him or not guard him. He's such a great pick-and-roll player.
I am totally indifferent to what other people think. There are always going to be people trying to take you apart. But I do know if we are 0-6 against the top teams, there is room for improvement.
I have complete faith. That's how I operate, that's how I coach. I truly believe that when all the parts are healthy, I know how good we are. I've said it over and over again and I will continue to say it, I just think this team can do something special. And that's the way I'll keep thinking.
I have complete faith. That's how I operate, that's how I coach. I had complete faith when we were 25 and whatever (in 2002-03), and I do now. I truly believe that when all the parts are healthy, I know how good we are. I've said it over and over again and I will continue to say it, I just think this team can do something special.
Shaq is in shape. He's back in 26 games. We've been together 46 games. Enough talk about learning each other and coming together. It's time to put up and play, and play against the best teams in the league, especially at home.
We will get beat tomorrow night if we bring any of the defensive lapses that we had against Seattle.
We don't have an answer for that team and right now, we don't have a defensive game for it. I think you have to play against them probably four, five, six times to realize exactly what it is that you need to do to try to stop them.
That team's never going to stop coming. We found that out in Game 1; we found that out again tonight.
I was concerned a little bit. We know the NBA when you have a big win on national television. I've seen a half-dozen teams this year have those kinds of wins and the next day get beat by anybody. You just sort of let down. It's natural. We really tried to guard against that.
He knows exactly how it is (the Bulls defend him). It's not a system; it's five against one.