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
We controlled the game for the most part except for the end of the second quarter. Alonzo had a huge impact on the game defensively. He gave us a defensive lift when we needed it.
The worst thing that can happen is that this thing goes to seven games and maybe we'll have him absolutely healthy. But we're planning on trying to go up to Chicago and closing this thing out.
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.
Continuity is important, and James does certain things for us that allows (guard) Dwayne (Wade) and (center) Shaquille (O'Neal) to get into the game fast.
To be honest, at the end of a game like that, I would have liked it to end quietly, but the fans like it.
We played the game very well offensively. So much better than we did (in Friday's loss) against San Antonio.
When you're getting your (butt) kicked you take it and go on to Game 4 (Sunday). That's what it's all about. They were very good and they were kicking our (butts) and we began to look at the officials. Guys have a lot of pride, but to me, that's not what it's all about.
When you're getting your ass kicked, you take it, and you go on to game four. They were very good and they were kicking our ass. And then we began to look at the officials. To me, that's not something you want to do.
When you're getting your ass kicked, you get on to game four. That's what it's about.
That was a game situation. He's supposed to be on the court, but I had a hard time taking anybody off the court at that time, because we were down and then we went ahead by eight. As a coach, you're going to ride that lineup as long as you can.
That's two games in a row that we showed, at a time when we need to show it, a real lockdown mentality defensively. It's not surprising to me if they're committed on doing it. They've done it off and on. Not consistent. It's when the mood strikes them.
I think probably a month ago or two months ago we wouldn't even come close to winning a game like this. We were very frustrated in the beginning with some very good defensive tactics on their part. They were just committed to fouling Shaquille (O'Neal) every single time.
It doesn't matter whether this was the first game or the seventh game (of the road trip). It was a terrible game on our part. They threw a zone at us early, and we acted like we've never seen it before.
You can characterize it however you want to, they are finding ways to win. They make plays at the end of games and that's what it is all about.