HEAT Head Coach Pat Riley

On the Game:
“A lot was different than in the first two games, there is no doubt. The only thing that I felt we had to make an adjustment on was their 20 points in the paint in the first quarter and they were getting to the rim too much. But I think as the game progressed, we had the lead and in the third quarter we were one-for-10 to start the third quarter and then that’s when we started to play the game better. Dwyane was incredible. Antoine hit some big shots for us. We had three or four really good defensive stops that got us two, four, six, and eight. I thought one of the keys in the second half, was even though Vince got 43, he took 34 shots to get them. Kidd had only one point in the second half and Jefferson only had two in the second half. They are going to Vince a lot and Vince is scoring but the fact is that we shut down the other guys and that really helped us so that’s big.”

On the defense:
“There’s no doubt at that particular time, instead of just laying back and letting them into a comfort zone, Posey got up into Vince, and Shaquille got up into him on high pick-and-rolls. He got a post-up on the shot and Gary Payton got a steal and there were three or four steals in a row where we scored in transition and got the 87-81 lead. So there is no doubt that at the end of the game our defense was the determining factor for us.”

On Dwyane Wade:
“He’s an amazing player. We all know that. He sees the game very well. When he gets the ball in the high-post and you open up the floor, he sees everybody and knows what they are doing and he still has the uncanny ability to find the seam or a gap to get more help to come and make crucial passes. He’s a very unique player. He makes it look really easy. I know how hard it has to be and he is just a blessing for us and this franchise. ”

On taking the lead for the series:
“We did a little math today. It’s very simple. It had to be tonight and that was the message.”

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

On the injury:
“He just swept through real low and once he got by me his arm caught me pretty good in the chin and knocked me silly for a minute. It seemed like I was on the ground for about five minutes but once I was in the locker room and they said I didn’t need stitches I decided to come back out and I’m alright.”

On the team:
“There are times where you can see the vision of coach Riley when he put the team together. We play together well and I think we understand what we have to do that more often, especially on the road. We have been of late, besides game one in Miami, and it’s been pretty good. In four out of the last five games we played, we’re playing better as a team.”

On his performance:
“I was just trying to be very aggressive. Udonis did a great job in making screens, and they tried to trap me on the pick and roll. We just did a great job in finding screens and getting the shots we wanted and they did a great job defensively.”

HEAT Forward Udonis Haslem

On the game:
“I think down the stretch, we knew the player they were going to and knew they were going through Vince. Our guys did a good job of jumping all over those plays and creating turnovers. We were focused. We understand that they had us at one point and we fought to get it tied and then took the lead. We tried to take advantage of every opportunity. We have another game on Sunday. There is no guarantee that if we win Sunday that we are going to win at home. We take it one game at a time. I knew Dwyane would come back. He’s been banged up all year. Here, there, the head, the mouth, back, knees, feet, everything and it hasn’t stopped him. I knew he would be back and I wasn’t worried.”

HEAT Center Shaquille O'Neal

On the game:
“This is a game that we really needed and we really wanted to get. So we came out and played pretty good. We had a couple of lapses but we just dug down deep and played good defense especially with the last seven or eight minutes in the game and we were able to close it out. Flash went out and hit 17 free-throws and I hit two. We played well. We moved the ball well. Our guys were playing good defense. We just wanted to come in here and get one. We don’t want to play around with these guys. We want to get the one on Sunday. We knew in the first half that their main three were going to get their shots. We said to ourselves that we have to stop one or two of these guys. In the second half I think Jefferson only had one point and Kidd had the same amount of points. Carter still got his points. He still got to the line for free-throws.”

On elbowing Carter:
“I got it. I dove on the floor. He dove on my head. I hit my teeth on the ground. It was just one of my police reactions to get that criminal off of me. I was just trying to stay in front of him. He’s a great player, very hard to stop but I just put my hand out down by the ball and I was able to tip it. It was loose and I just had to get it because I didn’t want him to get it and go around me and do something spectacular.”

On the defense:
“We had to buckle down on defense. It was a game we really wanted and needed. Posey did a really good job. Flash did a great job. We got some good key defensive stops when we needed them.”

On the series:
“We know we need to get it done on Sunday. We don’t really want to play around with this team. We have to come out the same way on Sunday. Just take care of the ball, take good shots and just play good defense. We can’t let all three of their guys get off so I think if we can do that we will be fine. I’m going to just play. I’m going to be aggressive. I’m going to try and punish them and just try to play.”

Nets Head Coach Lawrence Frank

On the Game:
“We were up one point when we called the timeout. We had Shaq up on mid-court which is kind of what you want because the basket lane is open but unfortunately you have to give credit to Shaq and their defense. We had a couple turnovers including four out of our last five possessions. We pride ourselves on execution but tonight we fell short. The one thing that I thought impacted the game was that our guys had a great offensive intent by attacking the paint but it’s hard to believe we got doubled-up on the free-throw line. They play through two guys just like we basically play through three guys. It will be Shaq in the post or Wade in the pick and roll. Basically they were just running a high pick and roll and we tried to be really aggressive and get it out there with the shows. There were a couple of big possessions where Haslem would screen Krstic and Wade was able to get to the basket. We had some other possessions, a little bit before that with a high pick and roll and plug and get help. Basically it was a high pick and rolls game from Wade from the last five minutes on. We as a team were unable to get some stops.”

On Antoine Walker:
“Antoine had a really good first half. I think he had 13 and finished with 16. Gary Payton hit some shots as a result of giving help off Wade’s pick and rolls. You have to give those guys credit for stepping up because they did a very good job.”

On Carter:
“Vince had really good intent and he had a very good offensive night. Richard was driving and attacking but couldn’t get the benefit of any calls. Krstic had great looks at the rim and shots that he normally hit weren’t falling tonight. I think Vince sensed it and he was just trying to do whatever he could to help the team and I think that’s why he’s a special player.”

Net's Guard Vince Carter

On the game:
“I was just being aggressive just doing what I have to do for my team to get a win. If my coach or my team has a problem, I’m sure they’ll let me know. I’m not shooting shots just to get my shots and just to see how many points I can score. I’m just trying to be aggressive and effective for my team”

“I think our turnovers first and foremost led to a lot of the easy baskets especially late in the game which kind of pushed the lead up. We were just making silly mistakes on both ends and just lost our focus for a second. I think once we try to just get it back as far as attacking the rim, it was too late, we had to foul and they were hitting their free throws.”

Net's Guard Jason Kidd

On the game:
“I think it’s a combination of us kind of losing our patience and then picking up the intensity on the defensive end and we kind of rushed and we made plays that we normally don’t make and they capitalized on it.”

“They shot a lot of free throws, whenever you shoot a free throw taking the ball out of the net, there’s no way for us to run. That second half, we had a run there in the third quarter and we just couldn’t get it going. They’re making shots and shooting free throws and that killed our running game.”

“It’s always frustrating no matter what happens throughout the game if you lose, you’re upset. Everybody played a pretty good game and they were just the better team tonight. We have to prepare with the same energy. We’ve been here before the last series, we were down two one so we have a must win.”

“I think the guys played great coming off the bench. Lamond, Jacque and those guys picked it up for us. We win and lose as a team and we lost tonight against those guys.”

Net's Forward/Guard Richard Jefferson

On the turnovers:
“It was bad. I think we had four or five in a row. Some of them were forced and some of them were careless but you just have to give them credit.”

On his performance:
“It was tough. I played terrible in the second half. I couldn’t get anything going. I just played terrible in the second half. My teammates and coaches expect better from me to come out and play well in the first half. Then we made that nice run to tie the game and I had a couple of turnovers and I didn’t really affect the game whatsoever in that second half.

On the game:
“We couldn’t get to the line. We drove the ball a couple times and they got 40 free throws to our 20 and it wasn’t Shaq putting up 18 free throws. Dwyane Wade got 15 of them but Vince scored 40 something and I think a few of the times he was going to the hole on those 30 something shots and I he was going to the hole quite a few times. But you look up and as much as I attack and Vince attacks, all of a sudden its 20 to 40 free throws and that is tough to overcome. When you combine that with the turnovers we had in the fourth quarter and my lack of contribution in the second half and that’s a pretty good win for them.”