HEAT Head Coach Stan Van Gundy

The last couple possessions there, Damon basically kind of got stuck and Dwyane seemed like rushed shots to you when Shaquille was going well for a while?:
"I didn't think we got what we wanted down the stretch. There were about four possessions there, we had a fast break where we didn't get anything out of it. We got the one, and went into Shaq. Damon's shot you were talking about, the ball was into Shaq; he threw it back at him. Then we had Dwyane coming off a pick and roll, he went the other way and missed a pull up jumper and he got caught in jumped ball, so we had four pretty tough fought possessions down the stretch. With the game that close, it happened to us in Game 1 also, with a game that close you have to execute down the stretch. We didn't. That's why we are where we are now."

What are your feelings right now? Can you just put into words the sense of disappointment you're feeling?:
"I don't think from a professional sense, from a basketball sense that I've ever been more disappointed. I just think, you know, Mickey Arison, Pat Riley and Randy Pfund and Eric done did an unbelievable job putting this team together and turning this team around from where we were two years ago, 25 and 57. I thought our group of players that we had this year did a great job, they were very professional, a very mature team. There were not very many nights, you guys have covered us know, we didn't lose very many games we shouldn't have lost. This team didn't take nights off. We got up 2 0 in both playoff series and finished them off. This were no nights off. And they battled through a lot of things in this series and fought very hard and valiantly against a very, very good team. I'm not disappointed in my players. I'm just extremely disappointed with the result. I mean, you fight all year to get this seventh game at home. I thought we were the most professional teams in the East in terms of taking care of business night in and night out, and that's to get the game here, and then to not be able to come through with a 7 point lead in the fourth quarter, I don't know, it's going to be months of thinking about that and going over every play. It's just very, very difficult. I feel for my players and I feel for our ownership and our front office and my staff."

Did Wade show you as much tonight, under the circumstances, with how much he was able to do as he has maybe all year?:
"I thought that, I mean, when somebody is having to stick a needle in your chest just so you can go out and play, he got us back in the game in the third quarter. I thought he was phenomenal. I thought Damon gave us a valiant effort. He rolled that ankle very, very badly and came back in and played. Our guys fought through a lot of things. I'm extremely proud of them. We just didn't get the job done down the stretch and the Pistons did a better job of executing. Two pretty even teams, they did a better job down the stretch and they move on and we deal with the disappointment. "

HEAT Center Alonzo Mourning

"Well, this was a great opportunity for me and I did all I could to try to help this team. I did everything that I could the time that I was out on the floor to try to help this team to get to this championship level. Unfortunately, the powers that be did not see fit for us to go to the Championship and you live and you learn. You know, you live and continue to live and you learn from your experience, you know, and this just can do nothing but make you strong. What does not kill you will make you stronger, so this experience alone can do nothing but make each and every one of these guys strong.

Can you think about what you'll be doing?:
"Right now I'll spend a lot of time with my family and reflect on my future and discuss my future with my wife and my business people. We'll talk about my future but right now that's just the last thing on my mind right now. I have plenty of time to think about it."

HEAT Guard Damon Jones

Which is worse, Damon, the physical pain or the emotional pain?:
"Emotional."

Can you put that into words?:
"It's tough at this point in time to just really explain how a team goes out and busts their tail for eight months to have a chance to do something really special and just don't make the necessary plays that you need to finish a game that we had in there."

Is shock a word to describe what the team is feeling right now?:
"Shock, disappointment, to know we had the game right there in our hands, it's tough."

How much do you think experience played into the final performance?:
"I don't think experience had anything to do with it. I think that, you know, we're an experienced basketball team, we have veteran guys out there at that point in time and just didn't make the necessary plays when we needed to. We've done it all year long and tonight unfortunately we just didn't get it done."

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

Can you just take us through the game and how the injury felt. Did it get better, did it get worse, how you felt throughout the game?:
"You know, first of all, I just want to say thank you to the City of Miami for supporting us all season. And being great fans, we appreciate it. You know, the game, it was what this matchup should have been. It went seven games. It went down to the last couple seconds. They made plays at the end, you know, that we didn't make. That was the main thing. My injury, you know, anybody in my position would have done the same thing and came out and tried to gut it out and that's what I tried to do.

Stan said that you took an injection, can you tell us when you did that and how you felt trying to get going at the start of the game?:
"I mean, tried to do whatever I can to be out there with a great group of guys. If I can keep guys' confidence, you know, even if I wasn't going to be playing at a high level, I just want to give guys confidence that I'm going to be there with them every step of the way, and I think I did it for the most part. Like I said, anybody would have done it, it was taking a shot or whatever it is, anybody in my position would have done it."

That third quarter, how do you explain coming in with so much difference and the fourth?:
"Well, you know, we was down in the third and I felt it slipping away, so I thought I'd pick up my hands a little bit and do what I can do. My teammates knew I only had a certain amount of energy to put out for it and I did in the third. In the fourth, I didn't have to try to do that. We was up. Offense was going good, like I said. It just came down to the end and them making plays and we did.

HEAT Center Shaquille O'Neal

It seemed like all five of your starters were playing hurt:
"Yeah, we still had an opportunity to win. Just maybe they had more experience than we did and the guys have to realize that before you succeed, you must first I don't think anybody expected us to get this far, but, you know, we had a lot of opportunities to get it done, but we're not going to make it. We just had a phenomenal season. Everybody fought. Guys played well. We almost had it."

How do you look back on the season?:
"If you don't win the whole thing, nobody is going to remember us winning and sweeping. We had a lot of opportunities to win this thing, but we just made too many mistakes. I just think they had a little bit more experience, but guys played well and we almost had it. We just have to go out and play. We had a lot of opportunities to get it done and we just fell short."

How hurt was Dwyane?:
"He was very hurt but he came out and he played and he gave us all he got. He gave us all he had. We're the type of players and we're the type of team that we're not going to make up excuses. We're going to dwell on this and then move on to next year."

Detroit Pistons Head Coach Larry Brown

At times this series, it seems like you said your team lost composure in some games, how good did it make you feel the way they played in the fourth quarter today?:
"You know, I've been proud of my team a lot. But when they made a run and got the lead, I think they got it up to five, you know, we never panicked. We had so many guys step up. We've been through a lot together, and it's an unbelievable reward when you can handle situations like this and show poise and toughness. You know, when you coach, it's an honor to coach, but you're blessed when you have a group like that."

Talk about how cool Chauncey was at the end, sinking those free throws:
"Well, he's come up big in so many big games. You know, it did become a foul shooting contest at the end. Big time player. We had a lot of guys step up; Tayshaun got two huge rebounds, Rip hit a big baseline jumper we needed. Rasheed made about three or four unbelievable plays down the stretch. A lot of guys, a lot of guys stepped up tonight. This is a total team win. We beat a great team. I know Dwyane was less than 100%, but he was phenomenal. We just beat a great team and in order to do that, you have to have guys step up and make plays and we had that tonight, especially when they made that run, cut into our lead, got a five point lead. From then on it was like Game 1. I thought we played kind of perfect down the stretch, like we did in Game 1."

If there's ever a time that Elden Campbell would step up, I guess this is as good as any and he gave you some very key minutes in key situations:
"Yeah, throughout the whole series, they did an unbelievable job of getting the ball to Shaq. We got in foul trouble a lot. You know, Joe (Dumars) got Elden, just for opportunities like this. We got Lindsey for opportunities like this, and we needed everybody because, you know, you can't guard Shaq, and they do a great job of getting him the ball. Pat's (Riley) done an amazing job just surrounding him with perimeter shooting, and then they have that young kid who is off the charts. So we needed Elden, we needed Dyess, we needed size. Rasheed got in foul trouble again."

Pistons Guard/Forward Richard Hamilton

Given everything that this team has had to go through this season, how rewarding is that piece of hardware right there?:
"Oh, man, this is very rewarding. We went through a whole lot this year with the brawl, with guys being out, guys being hurt, Coach being sick and things like that. You know, I mean, it's a great feeling because we all came together, we all stuck together and we all had each other's back. To be in this situation again, whew, it's a great feeling."

The score that you had in the first half was the top of the court, basically and then Dwyane Wade had the 12 point third quarter and ties the game up at 60 and then no more points for him the rest of the contest. What happened defensively for you?:
"I think that he came out, he made tough shots in the third quarter. The one thing that I wanted to try to do was try to wear him down. If he was going to keep making plays, tough plays, taking hits going to the basket, I knew eventually he was going to get tired. I just had to stick with it. I couldn't allow when he made a shot to frustrate me or anybody else. We just kept digging, kept digging. We get it down to these last couple of minutes, we get a lead we're going to hold on and get a win."

It seemed like you played better in this series at home, but tonight you were able to excel on the road, why was that?:
"You know, just knuckle down. It's win or go home right now. I just took it upon myself to say, you know, it's like the NCAA Tournament, you're there for these situation, regardless of how you played or shot the ball the last previous games, you just figure, this is it right here, just lay it on the line and go out there and play."

Pistons Guard Lindsey Hunter

Lindsey, was there a moment with all of your experience, you thought, "here we are"?:
"Well, when we tied the game up, I was like, okay, we're good right now, fourth quarter. I think it was with four minutes left and we had the ball and I was like, okay, we're all right. We can handle it. Then you know defensively we really stepped it up. Defensively we really stepped it up. You know, Ben fought his heart out down low with Shaq, and that in itself, you've got to take your hat off to him."

Talk about Rasheed's play:
"Yeah, he stepped up and we've been trying to get him on the block all night. Haslem did a great job of making us do something else, but when he really gets fired up, he finds ways to get it done, and tonight he did."