HEAT Head Coach Stan Van Gundy

Opening Statement:
"Another hard-fought game, a lot of swings in that game. I thought that we came out of the locker room very well to start the third quarter, which we had not done. I thought near the end of the third quarter, early fourth quarter we lost our composure, got frustrated when things were going bad, and they were able to build a lead. I thought the biggest shot of the game, I think it was 86-81, I don't have a play-by-play in front of me, Eddie hit a 3, sort of gave us some life. We were dying a little bit. And then from there I thought our guys showed great composure and toughness and finished out the game very, very well. Very difficult game but finished it well."

I just wanted to ask you about the push that you made without Dwyane Wade early in that fourth quarter, late in the third:
"If you go back this year -- we didn't have to play, thankfully, too many games without Dwyane, but we won a couple, lost a double overtime out in LA. We've played without those guys from time to time, and as much as everybody wants to paint this as a two-man team and they're certainly our two best players, everybody in that locker room will tell you that, our other guys are confident that they can make plays themselves and that we've got other good players.
You're right, it was a good run after he got his fifth foul. I thought we did a great job of increasing the lead. It was very, very important."

Did you think when everything had turned around right there in the fourth quarter and the Pistons had taken a five-point lead and the crowd was going nuts, what was going through your head and what do you think was going through your team's mind?:
"You missed the first part of my talk, but we lost our composure. We did. We lost our composure. We were getting frustrated, and we just kept telling them to calm down and keep playing the game and get their heads in.
I thought the biggest play of the game was Eddie's three to take it from 86-81 to 86-84, gave us some life, made us feel like we were back in the game. I don't know what it was, eight minutes, we finished very, very strong."

HEAT Center Alonzo Mourning

What does this say about your team?:
"I've said this since day one, we're a very resilient team. One thing about this team, we're very confident in the guys that come off the bench. I trust any of the guys that come off that bench, they're going to come in and get the job done. We've said this since day one since the playoffs started, we're going to need contributions from anybody. Everybody has to be ready at any given moment, and we've proven that thus far throughout the playoffs. Yes, we need plays from D. Wade, we need plays from Shaq, we need plays on defense. But you ask Stan, when he turns to that bench, he knows that guys are going to produce because we know what's at stake.
I think we've seen the growth of our bench as the playoffs have progressed. Guys were forced to step up, so I'm very confident in 1 through 12. I know that regardless of what the situation is, we have enough in our arsenal to go to it and to get it done."

Why do you think a lot of people have been saying, "oh, yeah, Dwyane" --:
"I don't care what they're saying."

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

One of their goals for Game 3 was to try to limit your touches and limit your looks and really try to prevent you from having the type of game you had in Game 2, but it seemed in the first half you were able to score and shoot pretty much at will. Can you talk about their defensive effort against you and whether it bothered you at all:
"I knew it was going to be hard getting the same looks that I got in Game 2, so every time I got the opportunity, when I was one-on-one, I was trying to attack. I hit a couple shots early and got going. The basket started looking big for me. I just tried to attack it and I got into a rhythm early on and it kept me going through the game."

Obviously you had 36 points, so you had a good night. Can you talk about the stretch when Lindsey Hunter was guarding you and what kind of a different look Hunter gives you?:
"I mean, he's just a lot shorter than me. Once you get the ball in your hands it's fine but him being short and very active with long arms, he's a great pressure defender. Once I get the ball I'm fine."

When you left the game you guys were down by four or five points, when you came back with 3:30 left in the game you were up by nine. What did they prove to you picking you up while you were out?:
"What they were proving to me all season, that this is a great team. Rasual did a great job of going in. With my five fouls he really went in and I'm very confident in him and he went in and played good. When Detroit made a run, we was down, we came back strong and went up 10. This is a very good ball club, it's not just one or two guys."

HEAT Forward/Guard Eddie Jones

You're getting the home court back:
"We're just worried about coming out and playing our game. We've got to be the Miami Heat, no matter if it's in Miami or Detroit. We came out tonight, the Big Guy is starting to feel better, and the healthier we can get him, the better we'll be."

Shaq looked almost close to 100 percent tonight:
"He looked pretty good. He's still at about 75 percent. I've seen the Big Fella play in the playoffs so I know what he's capable of."

Detroit Pistons Head Coach Larry Brown

Could you please talk about the free throw disparity and what you saw in the fourth quarter:
"We fouled. You know, at the end I think we had -- we started fouling trying to get back in. We might have started fouling a little too soon. You know, they made some huge plays. Eddie Jones, Rasual Butler, they just made plays at the end and we kind of lost our poise a little bit. With about five-minutes to go in the game, we just let things get in the way of playing basketball. You know, when you shoot 65 percent from the free throw line and you don't shoot great from the field, you can't let things get in your way. Even with a minute and 47 seconds to go, we were down eight with the ball, and four minutes prior to that you would have thought we were down 30."

When Dwyane Wade left the game with 7:56 and five fouls, you guys were up five. When he came back you guys were down nine. Why do you feel you weren't able to capitalize during that period when he was out of the game?:
"They made plays. Rasual Butler hits, Eddie hits a big three, and I didn't know if our shot selection was great. We missed some free throws. But again, I thought we let a lot of things factor in and just lost our poise. I think as a result of that, we dug ourselves a hole and a chance to win it. You know, in Game 2, I thought our shot selection down the stretch got a little bit quick and we settled too much I think tonight in a lot of cases, we did that, as well."

The defensive play early, did you think it was soft? They were just making shots over the top of you. Were you disappointed with your defense especially early?:
"I didn't think we defended great early, but I told the guys, you know, they're shooting 60 or close to it, and we were down two at halftime. You know, we were relatively out of foul trouble until the last two minutes, Rasheed and Ben picked up some really tough fouls late.
But I didn't think we defended great. And then they got up -- I thought we defended a little better the second half. They got up 10, Lindsey came in and changed everything, and then again, we just let things get to us that shouldn't have had any effect on us at all."

Considering the experience of your team and the way they normally play, are you surprised that you lost your poise or let those things get to you?:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we've worked too hard and been in too many situations, and we've always relied on each other as a team to get over the hump, and tonight, you know, there were so many things happening out there that I think shouldn't have had any effect on us at all. You've got to play through things. Everything is not always perfect.
But again, Shaq was phenomenal, Dwyane's first half doesn't get much better than that and they had some guys come in and make huge plays. I think we could have done a lot of things a lot better regardless of what was going on out there.

Pistons Guard/Forward Richard Hamilton

Rip, Coach talked about how he thought you guys lost your poise down the stretch with the officiating, is that what you saw?:
"We definitely did. I think we're too good of a team to have a meltdown like we had tonight. We've been in this situation too many times to let anything bother us, and I think this late in the season, Eastern Conference Finals, we can't afford to have any letdowns. I think the last five, six minutes of the game we didn't play the way we were supposed to play. We let little ticky-tack stuff bother us."

Can you just talk about the sense of urgency this team is at at this point heading into Game 4 on Tuesday?:
"We've got to take care of business at home. We let an opportunity slip away tonight. We had a great third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, and we kind of let one slip. We've just got to come out and play the way we played that third quarter. We can't let anything bother us, just go out and win."

You guys were up five, Dwyane Wade has to sit because of foul trouble. How do you feel right then?:
"Like I said, when he sat, we were up five. We had all the opportunities in the world to win the game. We missed a lot of free throws. Like I said, we had a meltdown. We were getting technical foul after technical foul, shooting three pointers where we should have driven and things like that. It was all just understanding the game. Usually we don't make that type of mistakes and tonight it really cost us."

Could you talk a little bit about Lindsey's contribution tonight as well as Elden off the bench for you guys, particularly on defense:
"He came in and gave us big-time minutes, trying to keep Shaq out of the paint. Lindsey did a really great job of trying to contain Dwyane and trying to get steals on him. We need them guys. I think our bench is key. Hopefully they continue to play that way in the series."