HEAT Head Coach Stan Van Gundy

Opening Statement:
"I don't know what you want me to tell you about that one, guys. We got dominated. We could not handle their defense. The biggest difference in the game is, you know, they get 22 more shots than us because we turn it over 19 times to their six and get 14 offensive rebounds. I mean, you don't have a chance with that. They get 18 fast break points or 19 fast break points, a lot of those coming off of our turnovers. Our halfcourt defense was not all that bad, but we couldn't rebound and we could not take care of the ball. They dominated us. After the first quarter, they totally dominated us and I really don't have a lot else to tell you."

How much of that is just not having Dwayne and how much of that was:
"Look, the two teams played with who they had tonight. I'm not going to get into that. They dominated us tonight, period. I'm not getting into that making excuses and all of that stuff. We had two teams out there that had the guys they had. I'll talk about that game we played out there. They dominated us."

Talk about a Game 7 going home now, do you want to look ahead a little bit to Monday night for us?:
"Well, you play all year to have the Game 7 on your floor. That's why you go out and play 82 regular season games and you keep your focus on the back to back, you know, in Atlanta or, you know, somewhere like that and don't let up to get those wins to be at your place in Game 7. Game 7's are great. It's something that if you're, you know, a kid growing up, dreaming of playing in the NBA, you dream of playing Game 7. So it's something that all of our players should look forward to. We obviously have to find some answers to their pressure, and we have to be able to keep them off the glass. Those are probably the two major things, and then obviously we've just got to play a lot better, but those are probably the two major things from our point of view that will determine our success on Monday night."

HEAT Guard Damon Jones

Damon, what's the mood in the locker room after a loss like this? And how does everybody feel about going into a seventh game? Do you think Dwyane will be with you or not?:
"We hope he's going to be with us, but the mood in the locker room is, you know, we have to put this game behind us. It's only one game. We didn't lose the series tonight. We worked hard all year long, won 59 games for one reason, and that's to have home court in a Game 7 situation. That's the positive that we have in front of us at this point in time."

Talk about the turnovers, the lack of fast break points, what specifically, considering you may not have Dwayne back, do you guys have to do to change that in Game 7?:
"You know what I think we have to work the game better. I think at the end of the first quarter, we were down one point, going into the first time out in the second quarter still only down one point, and I think from there on, they tried to turn the pressure up and make us play faster and that's something we've done good all series long is we've played at our own pace. They speeded us up a little bit. We turned the basketball over too many times and they got to the open court and got some fast break points, and, you know, it was a free for all from there."

How do you change that?:
"We just have to work the game better, be efficient offensively. We have to be able to move the ball throughout their pressure and make plays."

HEAT Center Shaquille O'Neal

Can you talk about the difficulty of getting the ball to you early on and how that snowballed into Detroit's lead:
"No, I just think we had trouble taking care of the ball. You know, we were right there in the first quarter, but the second quarter we just had too many turnovers. I think we had 19 turnovers and just didn't take care of the ball. They got a lot of easy baskets. They just played looser. We've got to take care of the ball and do what we're supposed to do and tonight we didn't do that."

Do you feel like you need Dwyane in Game 7 or do you tell him, if he's hurt, don't go out there?:
"Whoever is on the court, everyone has to step up and do what they are supposed to do. I've just got to do a better job of getting the guys ready. You know, we've just got to go out there and do what we're supposed to do and just keep playing tonight. We made way too many mistakes, way too many."

What more can you do to help get the guys ready?:
"We've just got to talk to them, keep their spirits up and we've just got to it's simple, but we as individuals, if we don't do what we're supposed to do, we make it hard. We've just got to play our game and handle their pressure and just take care of the basketball."

Detroit Pistons Head Coach Larry Brown

How freeing was it for Rip to be able to spend all of his energy on the offense without having to worry?:
"Well, we don't have one guy guard Dwyane. You know, that's an unbelievably tough matchup. You know, obviously not having him, that impacted this game so much. You know, Dwyane, just like Shaq, makes everybody better, Dwyane has the same effect on the game on both ends. Obviously it helped. But I think if you look at this game, the 24 assists and the six turnovers, we gave up two points on turnovers. I don't think our starting backcourt had a turnover, and that was huge because we could get our defense set and certainly they are not the same team without a special player like him. So when you have to score in the halfcourt, it really makes it a lot more difficult against a set defense."

Talk about Game 7s. You went to play New Jersey last year in Game 7 and you won that game and this time you're going on the road, a little bit different, but your mindset for Game 7 on Monday night?:
"I'm thrilled we're in that position right now after the way this series has gone. I'm disappointed they weren't at full strength. You know, you play all year and you hope your best players are available. But that being in mind, having that in mind, I'm proud of my team. This is great for basketball. You know, you've got, I think, two terrific teams that try to play the right way. I have a lot of admiration for Miami and the way they played in this series and how competitive they are. I haven't seen any cheap stuff. It just seems like two teams really trying to do the right thing, so it's great. It's the kind of situation I hate to see anybody lose. But the reward is so great and from my perspective, you know, I've been doing this a long time, you don't get into many Finals situations like this or Game 7's. It's going to be a long wait. I'm nervous about it. But I hope my players enjoy this. The thing that I dread about Game 7 is for players to worry about losing and making mistakes. I just want them to enjoy it and do the best they can and hopefully the best team will win."

Do you go into Game 7 preparation wise expecting Dwyane Wade to play or do you set up two different game plans? What's your thought process?:
"To be honest with you, I didn't know he got hurt at the game. I said that the other day, I thought they played so well that they had kept him out. Then, you know, we didn't change anything in preparation. I heard he warmed up and I fully expected him to play. I would be really disappointed if he doesn't play on Monday. After what their team has been through and what they have accomplished. But our preparation will not be any different at all. We talk about match ups, naturally, when he's in the game, but you do that no matter what. We're not practicing tomorrow. I don't think I'd win that one if I asked them to come to practice. We're going to meet at the plane and hopefully have our legs as fresh as possible and expect a great team to show up with a real enthusiastic crowd."

Pistons Guard Chauncey Billups

Is this typical of you guys when you get your backs to the wall, you revert back to the defense and put your defense on the line there to get you back into it?:
"Yeah, you know, we know what our meat and potatoes is, and that's our defense. We feel like when our defense is good, our offense is good because we make so many energy plays where we get out on the break and get some easy baskets in transition. I thought it was a good effort by us tonight all around."

This will be a little bit different for you Monday, Game 7 on the road. Just talk about the challenge ahead in dealing with that:
"Yeah, it's a little different. We've got a few Game 7's here, but they have been at home. You know, we're a very good road team. Great teams win on the road. It's a little different challenge, you know what I mean, because we're playing a very, very good team and we're playing them at their place. You know, this is great basketball, man. I think we're all looking forward to that game on Monday. You know, like you said, it's a different challenge, but we're up for it."

The backcourt had no turnovers, you and Rip, just talk about that and the importance of taking care of the basketball in this game in a big game?:
"Well, against a team like that, you know, you turn it over a lot, you're really going to be in trouble. They have got some finishers and they have got some guys that can put them in the basket, they thrive on those kind of opportunities when you turn it over to get numbers on the other end and score. Tonight I thought we came out focused. I came out very focused and just trying to run a team and get our big guys involved and if I had some open shots I was going to take them. If not, I really wasn't going to force the issue. I felt like that's what we needed, we needed to play inside out, get 'Sheed going, at least let him get his hands on the ball. That's what I was focused on early in the game. I told Rip, "Just be aggressive, be aggressive and don't worry about me not being as aggressive. I'm going to be there ready and waiting when I had opportunities, but just be aggressive."

Pistons Guard/Forward Richard Hamilton

How freeing was it for you offensively tonight without Wade in the game?:
"You know it was still a challenge. With him not being in the lineup, we didn't want to underestimate them. We thought about what Shaq said out there, it's still a great team. The one thing I tried to do is just play my game, keep running and try to get to the free throw line and get my teammates involved. I think we did a good job really feeding off the energy of the building and we got a win."

You've been through these elimination games before, did your experience in that make in any easier to take the pressure off?:
"I would rather play an elimination game every game. That's what I always loved about the NCAA Tournament because there was no other game, so you was not allowed to let yourself come out and relax or take a game off knowing that you have another game to play. I think this situation right here is probably best for us, you know, because it's either win or go home and I think guys did a great job of stepping up tonight and getting the win."

I'd like to ask you about the Piston defense and also about beating the Heat without Wade:
"You know, we defended the way we wanted to defend. In the first half they only had 32 points, so we tried to force them to get turnovers and things like that. We played defense as five and without Dwayne there, like I said, they are still a great team. We cannot underestimate with him not being out there for us to let up or anything like that."