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 upside is there could be absolute power dominance inside. But the downside is somebody could say, 'OK, you're going to go big, I'm going to go with five guards -- one shooting center and four guards.' And then who's going to beat who first?
It's an ongoing battle. It's becoming more and more and more difficult to do it. There's so much talent, so much ball-handling ability. There's so many things that officials allow perimeter players to get away with that it's difficult to guard the ball.
We have to guard the ball a lot better. And he's got to go to the rim a little more with his blocks.
There are universal truths of defensive basketball. If a guy is open, guard him. Don't leave him standing in the corner or out on the three-point line.
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.
(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.
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.
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?
I'm sure that everybody will say that I'm just up here trying to complain, but I don't see how he could ever get to the basket. I don't care if he's 340 pounds. They get locked into such a defensive position that they just hold him. ... Impeding his progress. But he's got to find a way to get around that.
I'm tired of hearing it. Tired of hearing about how, well, we keep shooting ourselves in the foot or we're not doing this or we're not doing that. Somewhere, you've got to take responsibility for who you think you are.
I'm really tired of talking about it. I hate to do it, but there's a huge double standard here. He turns in, it's a foul on him. And they're pushing and shoving on him all the time.
The bigger the moment, both of them stepped up even bigger. Sometimes, it's absolutely beyond description. I haven't seen players do that in a long, long time.
The beginning was a disaster, an absolute disaster.
They have to understand when you go to somebody's building it's a big game.