HEAT Head Coach Stan Van Gundy

On the game:
“Tough game and a good win to get. I thought there was a lot of things that we didn’t do real well, but we kept fighting and got enough to win the game.”

“Two of their main guys had absolutely real good games. We turned the ball over 20 times. They kicked our butts on the boards. We missed 18 free throws. They got 18 fast-break points. Really, we didn’t take care of anything that we wanted to take care of, and we won the game.”

“It’s good. We know we’re going to have to be a lot better to get a win up there in that environment.”

“It’s good to start it with two at home.”

“We just weren’t getting the job done on the glass, and that makes it awfully tough to run.”

“We were turning the ball over and missing free throws. You have to get good shots at the basket. When you’re fouled, you have to make free throws. We didn’t do that. It made the game much tougher than it needed to be.”

“We did get some rebounds down the stretch. They didn’t really hurt us with offensive boards down there in the last 3 minutes. We did some good things there to get it done.”

“They’re at their best when they’re down.”

“They play very freely.”

On Dwyane Wade:
“He was fabulous.”

“The guy is just an extremely bright guy. He sees what’s going on, and his 15 assists tonight was the most that he has had.”

On Shaquille O’Neal:
“He was really fighting it tonight, and you could tell. Tonight, he was struggling to run a little bit but he fought it out, and made a presence down there. He made a couple of unbelievable passes to give us baskets. He was huge and had a couple rebounds down the stretch. He was really a warrior tonight, and I really appreciate the effort he gave us.”

HEAT Center Alonzo Mourning

On the game:
“We know why we were able to win and why there was a good chance we could have lost. When you understand that, you can build on it. That is the good thing about this team. This is a very resilient team. Regardless of the situation, regardless of how we win or how we don’t win, we always know the reasons why. That is important in the playoffs going into the next game.”

On Game Three of this series:
“This team [Washington Wizards] is going to play a whole lot tougher on their home court. We cannot turn the ball over the way we have been the last two games. Those guys are very talented and they can win some ball games. They have proven that. They will now have their whole city behind them. Game Three will be a crucial game for them. They don’t want to go down 0-3. They are going to fight and claw and play with a tremendous sense of urgency.”

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

On the game:
“I came with a different mind set, and I really try to be a playmaker. I really try to attack and I know that if I attack, they will come to me and I’ll get the ball to my teammates. If I could have made my free throws, I could have had a better game. I wanted to be a playmaker because that transfers into doing other things.”

On the end of the game:
“I don’t characterize it as a scare. This is a team [Washington Wizards] that isn’t going away. We have to play better, but Washington is a good team, and they’re in the playoffs for a reason. We came out to win.”

On Game three:
“I expect them to come out with a lot of energy. The crowd is going to be wild. I expect them to come out very aggressively. I expect every game to be a battle. We need to be able to withstand that. Hopefully, we will take care of business.”

HEAT Guard Damon Jones

On the game:
“We went into the game trying to stop those guys from getting to the basket as easily as they did in Game One game one] we were getting into foul trouble and they were getting to the free-throw line. Coming into Game Two we wanted to be able to contain our man and rebound the basketball. We played how we had to on each end of the floor and that’s what good teams have to do.”

On the play of Dwyane Wade:
“He has done it all year long. Tonight he came out and showed that he could distribute the basketball, and in the second half he took over scoring. It didn’t surprise me at all. I see it everyday at practice and he’s just a great talent. With him firing and the Big Fella getting back into his groove, we are going to be a hard team to beat.”

HEAT Forward/Guard Eddie Jones

On the game:
“I tried my best, when I got the ball, to be aggressive and attack the rim. Then he started backing off of me and I let it fly. I didn’t think I did a great job of rebounding tonight which I was really upset with because (Antawn) Jamison really got going because of his rebounds. I got to rebound better and play better defense on him. I let him get going in the second half. When you turn the ball over, you give a team confidence. We knew going in there that we couldn’t turn the ball over because we aren’t that quick getting back. They really push the ball down your throat with their layups. If we can cut down turnovers and rebound better I think we will have a better game Thursday.”

On post season play:
“I love the game, I really love this game and I’m just out there competing because that is where the fun is. When you are on a pretty good team you are just having some fun out there and enjoying it.”

On Game Three:
“It [winning Game Three] is important. You really don’t want to give a team any life, especially a young team. If you give a young team some life you never know how far they can go with it.”

Washington Wizards Head Coach Eddie Jordan

On the game:
“I thought our guys played very hard. We played well for the most part. I have to give my guys a lot of credit for battling out there. It was a very physical game. It was a very intense game. We gave ourselves a chance. If we play that hard, but a little bit better at our place, we will have a chance in the next two games.”

On Dwyane Wade:
“We tried to cut the floor off on him. He is so good that he just splits our pick and rolls. He is a tornado out there. He is a major force when he goes to the basket. He did a great job tonight.”

On his team defense:
“I thought that we competed at the highest level. We were tinkering with losing our composure with the officials. We stayed disciplined for most of the game. It is not disheartening. I saw a team that is on the brink. We had two good looks at three pointers the end of the game. It was a six point game at the time. If we compete like that in the next two games at home we have a good chance.”

Wizards Forward Antawn Jamison

On his injury:
“Sunday was definitely the worst I have felt in a long time. I did some rehab and got some ice and stim. It felt pretty good on Monday and today I felt real good. I think it just came down to having some rest. I was able to stay off my feet and relax a little bit getting the strength back in my knee. I felt pretty good in the first half. In the second half it gave me the same problems I had in Game One. This is pretty much what I expect the rest of the playoffs. It is one of those things where it is going to be a while before I am even close to 100 percent. I just have to fight through it. My teammates are going to have to pick up the slack. As long as I am able to walk and run down that court, I am going to give it my best effort.”

On being down 0-2:
“It’s the playoffs, you have to step it up. This is the second round. We are not playing an inexperienced playoff team. This team is on a mission. They are playing hard. If I am not having a good game, or Gilbert (Arenas) or, like it was with Larry (Hughes), we have to have other guys come in and step up. I was able to pick up the slack a little bit and Gilbert did his job. Larry kind of got it going in the fourth quarter until he fouled out. That is what we have to do. We have to get contributions from guys off the bench. Our big guys have done a great job defensively on Shaquille (O’Neal) and we might need them to get involved more on the offensive end. You have to take it to another level and find a way to get it done.”

Wizards Guard Gilbert Arenas

On going down 0-2 in the series:
“We’re going to keep fighting. This is one of those games that we could have pulled out. We played well enough to win this game. They’re a great team with veterans who don’t get boggled down with pressure. We know that when we get home our crowd is going to be behind us and we’re going to be ready to go.”

On the Wizards’ approach to Game 3:
“They’re human, too. We can go on runs against them. We can stop them. We can make shots against them. We’ve just got to do it for 48 minutes. There’s going to be one of those games where all of our players are going to be on. We’re going to have one of those games.”

On the HEAT setting the tempo during tonight’s game:
”You know they want to run a little bit. Especially, when Shaq is out. That gives them the green light to go out and run. They’re a running team and they have the athletes to do it.”

On the Miami HEAT:
“They built this team for a championship run. They have all the elements. That’s what we’re facing. You’ve got to get slapped in the face, sometime, before you toughen up. They’re beating us down right now, but we’re not afraid. We don’t care. We’re going to keep fighting.”

On the performance by Dwyane Wade:
“That’s what he does. If he doesn’t have his shot he’s looking to make plays. Especially, to Shaq and the Joneses. That’s what’s so dangerous about him. We’ve got to pick our poison with this team. We can’t let them just play free.”

On Shaquille O’Neal:
“A hurt Shaq is still the number one center in this league.”