HEAT Head Coach Pat Riley

On the game:
“Obviously it was a good win for us. Coming off of Detroit it seemed like our guys were a little sluggish. We had great performances from guys like Dwyane (Wade) and Shaquille (O’Neal). They just kept hanging in there and then we finally opened it up in the second half. It is important for us to close out tomorrow night and keep moving on.”

On what carried over from the Detroit win:
“I was concerned a little bit. Orlando shot over 50 percent in the first half and I was concerned. When you have a big win on national television, especially a win that you need, you don’t want a let down. The offensive efficiency of Dwyane and Shaquille carried over from the Detroit game. We want to continue to pound the ball in the post and make people have to double and play him.

On the fans chanting ‘MVP’:
“There is no doubt that Dwyane has captured the imagination of everybody in this community. They love him. He is one of their own and he is having a great year. There is nothing wrong with that chant. That is born out of respect.”

HEAT Center Shaquille O’Neal

On the game:
“We just have to go out and play the game we are supposed to play. We had a couple dead spots in the game and you know a team like that is going make some runs.”

“We just want to go out and win on a good note and have a good three days at the All-Star [break] and then come back with 31 or 32 games left. We just want to do great the second part of the season.”

On the crowd chanting MVP for Dwyane Wade:
“He’s having a fabulous season. He’s a great player and he deserves it.”

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

On the crowd chanting ‘MVP’ for Dwyane Wade:
“It felt good. That was the first time I’ve heard that, so it was good.”

On tomorrow’s game and going into the All-Star break:
“It’s very important. You want to go into the break feeling good about your team’s play and I think another win tomorrow on the road will make us feel great about the way we are playing. It’s key for us to go out tomorrow and play with a lot of energy.”

HEAT Forward Udonis Haslem

On the game:
“It felt good. We obviously still have a lot of work to do. We just want to finish this first part of the season on a good note. We want to play well, stay healthy, and get back to work when they [Shaq and Wade] get back [from the All-Star break].”

“We had a 14-point lead and they [Orlando Magic] got it to within five or six points. We need to be able to sustain those leads.”

On the potential to go into the All-Star break on a win streak:
“We definitely want to go to the All-Star break with momentum coming into the second half of the season. We have a lot more work to do and that would be a good start for us.”

HEAT Guard Gary Payton

On the game:
“We have to be focused and see how much better we can get. We should not be worried about other teams. We should worry about what we need to do to improve ourselves. We need to go at it one game at a time and to improve and that is what we are trying to do.”

On the playing back-to-back games against Orlando:
“They are going to try to come in and make some adjustments. We need to make adjustments too. They are going to come hard and be at their [home court]. We need to go over the things that we did today. We need to look at the tape and see the areas where we made mistakes and hopefully, we can correct them and get another win.”

Orlando Magic Head Coach Brian Hill

On the game:
“We couldn’t stop their two main guys tonight. We didn’t do a very good job with Shaquille [O’Neal] inside and Dwyane [Wade]had a great night. When he’s knocking down jump shots, he’s an awfully tough guy to guard. His biggest strength is probably driving the ball to the basket. It makes it even more difficult to defend when he’s making shots like that.”

“We obviously have to do a better job with those two guys. It starts right there. You can’t allow a team to shoot 58 percent. They got to the line 47 times. We have to do a better job playing people off the dribble and try to reduce their free throws.”

On Dwight Howard defending Shaq::
“That’s part of his growth process. He’s the biggest guy we have out there. We tried to help him with some double teams but he’s a big man down there to have to guard.”

On Shaquille O’neal:
“He’s been a great player for a long time. He’s seen it all. There’s no defense that you can throw at him that he hasn’t seen. He knows how to handle all the double team situations. He’s just an outstanding, mature, experienced player.”

On Steve Francis:
“I thought he was a little more aggressive, offensively, looking to attack the basket.”

Magic Forward Grant Hill

On Shaquille O’Neal:
“Every time I see him in person, I’m amazed with how big he is. I was amazed when I met him 14 years ago and I’ve been amazed every time I’ve seen him since.”

On whether it was a good learning experience for Dwight Howard:
I think it is. Shaq is the best of the best. He is playing now as well as he’s played all season. He’s healthy. I think he’s starting to focus in and get his rhythm for the playoffs. It is tough for anybody. He’s so smart. Dwight can learn from that. He can see how the ‘Big Fella’ uses his body. He does his work early, maybe two or three passes before. He is so unbelievable passing out of the double team. For Dwight it would be a great learning opportunity.”

Magic Guard Keyon Dooling

On the game:
“I guess it was just one of those games. Defensively, we didn’t contain (Dwyane) Wade or Shaq.”



Magic Guard Steve Francis

On the game:
“It was tough. Their two guys went to the line a million times in the first half. It seemed like we couldn’t get over the hump.”

On Dwight Howard guarding Shaquille O’Neal:
“There is nobody in the league that can hold him up by themselves. Dwight looked like me going against him. We have them again tomorrow night. Hopefully, Coach saw some things that we can exploit them on and get one last win before the break.”