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 just had a great first quarter. I mean, it was just incredible. I don't think I've ever seen this team play like that.
Eddie's always been the kind of guy coming off the bench with great energy, a real pure heart. It's hard to find guys like him.
People got a view of absolute greatness. It's absolutely beyond description. I haven't seen players do that in a long time.
I think people got a view of absolute greatness, back and forth. The bigger the moment, both of them stepped up even bigger and bigger.
We just couldn't stop Vince. We put two or three different guys on him. We tried to guard him the best we could. But Vince Carter is a great player. He's a runner and when he elevates, he can get above big guys.
(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.
He's a great player, there's no doubt about that.
He's a great player. He's one of the top five guys in the league.
We were hanging on, and we have to give him credit. He just stepped up. He wasn't that mobile, but he did have an effect once he got a little bit warm. He had a great fourth quarter.
Shaq did a great job tonight. We have to make sure he's not in foul trouble and constantly look to go to him.
What people don't understand is, last year we had two great players, but you need more talent. You can never have enough talent.
We got a break tonight. Bobby Simmons is a great player - Mo Williams - those two guys would have created a lot of problems for us. The thing about a speed team, if you can see them walking up and down the court, you've done something.
When you are getting your (butt) kicked you take it and move on to Game 4. They were doing a great job of kicking our (butt) and then we started looking at the officials. Our guys have a lot of pride, but to me that is not what it is all about.
We had a great fourth quarter defensively. We did not get into foul trouble early and made some really big defensive plays. They shot the ball extremely well tonight. We were down going into the fourth quarter and really raised the level of our defense.