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 team itself was hung over from last night, and very disappointed by it.
I would say at the end of the games if you went back and charted Jason Williams making shots in the last four minutes he's one of the best at making open shots. So you've got to have him on the court. While everybody says you've got take him off the court because it's a defensive thing, what do I do at the other end?
If we had come back with the same team as last year, it would have been a disaster. We didn't have the firepower to sustain what we needed in this conference. Last year was a honeymoon year. A couple players had career years. I didn't believe we had the core of players like the core we have now. We have a lot more versatility now.
If we had brought back the exact same group we had last year, I think the results would be good, but we needed more talent, ... We built the team around Shaquille that's a now team. We want to get it done as quick as we can. This is by far the best team that I've been around since the ones that I coached in Los Angeles.
Last year we understood and found out exactly how lethal injuries at the wrong time can be, so I think we protected ourselves a little bit there. As a matter of fact, I think we protected ourselves big-time in that capacity if we lose a perimeter guy.
Obviously we're concerned about everybody's health, based on what happened last year. We've still got 19 games to play. You can't walk around on egg shells, but we do have to be conscious of the maintenance of these guys.
What people don't understand is, last year we had two great players, but you need more talent. You can never have enough talent.
You have to leave the last two games behind us. We didn't like how we played up there. We didn't play very well. We didn't play well enough to win. Probably didn't deserve to win.
(The players) didn't like last night. It was embarrassing. But that's what you deal with. Once you understand what happened, you've got to get on with making those improvements.
We don't want to go through what we went through last year. My whole thing is about maintenance right now, but not at the expense of complacency.
It's difficult, but you deal with it. Family is part of your life. And so, I did what I had to do in New York. ... The last four days was about a family crisis. Now it's about Chicago, moving on and trying to get this job done here.
It's a good bounce-back game. We needed to get out of our system what happened the last couple of games.
They're flying. They're sixth in the league in scoring. That wasn't the way they were last year. And they don't let you stay close anymore. You used to be able to stay close to them occasionally but sometimes now they get out there and run. They're a different team this year, but their defense hasn't suffered.
Our guys have to stop talking about being what they think they are and they've got to do it. I think we've done it a little bit over the last couple of weeks, but enough is enough now.