HEAT Head Coach Pat Riley

On the game:
“We don’t sustain anything. I can’t explain this at all. I can’t remember this in the 11 years I’ve been here. We’re a good team. I just can’t explain it right now. I know what’s going on: we’re not defending, we’re not playing hard enough, we surely are not scoring, and offensively we’re so inefficient it’s putting pressure on our defense. We need to find a way to fix this.”

On whether this season’s struggles is reminiscent of last year’s 10-10 start:
“I didn’t coach the team until (Shaq) got back. Obviously we are going to have to gather the troops and do something different. I think the guys have been waiting for him to come back, knowing he was going to be back in three or four days. Then they would have the post presence there, but now we have to look in another direction as to how we’re going to get some more offense and scoring.”

On whether the news of losing Shaquille O’Neal affected the team:
“I can’t say because this has been typical of us over the last week. All three games have been like this; very competitive in the first half and then the third quarters are absolute debacles.”

On his feeling about the injury to Shaquille O’Neal:
“Injuries are part of the game. I’m saddened by the injury because all of his injuries have been freak injuries. It isn’t that his body just broke. He took a knee, got bumped; it’s been crazy.”

On the HEAT’s spirit:
“Science teaches you that you can live about two days without water, you can live about two weeks without food but you only live about two minutes when you lose youe spirit when things are going bad. It takes about two minutes and we are down 10 or 12.”

On the performance of Jason Williams:
“He had some good moments. He tried to attack. He has to find his game legs.”

HEAT Forward James Posey

On Shaquille O’Neal being out:
“We didn’t find out until we got here this evening, in our final team meeting. I didn’t know what the situation was. It was a shocker. Guys get hurt and you still have to go out there and perform and play. We just didn’t do that tonight.”

HEAT Guard Jason Williams

On the game:
“My knee felt alright but got a little tight in the second half. We’ll see how it reacts in the morning. I just don’t feel like me. I can’t be in game shape after playing just one game, 18 minutes.”

On Shaquille O’Neal being out:
“Yeah, it’s frustrating to have one of your best players beat up like that. It’s not like they’re going to cancel any games for us, so we have to keep going.”

HEAT Center Michael Doleac

On the game:
“I’ve been taken back by the way we’ve been playing. It’s just a matter of staying together, playing hard every night, and trying to get better every day in practice. More then anything right now it’s an attitude. We are the same team we were last year. We were without Shaq last year and we didn’t play like this.”

HEAT Forward Antoine Walker

On Shaquille O’Neal being out:
“Obviously, it is very disappointing. We had a good practice yesterday and he went really hard. Obviously, he must have aggravated it today to a point where he can barely move. I feel badly for him. I know that he wanted to get back on the floor. Obviously, we are going to miss him, but we have to get back to playing basketball in the way that we are capable of playing.”

On the game:
“For some reason, we got blown-out. It is getting real bad. We have to figure out what the problem is and stay together as a unit. We need to get back on the right track. We don’t need to let this thing escalate any further."

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

On Shaquille O’Neal being out:
“I kind of knew something was wrong with him. The main thing is for him to get it taken care of and get back healthy so that he can come back when we need him. Of course we are going to miss our big guy. It is unfortunate that it happened now when we are trying to get things right in Miami.”

On the game:
“We understand that teams are going to make shots and play great against us because we are the champs. We just have to keep fighting. I have been on a team like this before, so I know that there is sun on the other side.”

New York Knicks Head Coach Isiah Thomas

On the game:
“It was nice to come here and get a win. I thought our team played with great intensity, great energy and great concentration. We tried to sustain it for 48 minutes. I like the total commitment the team has right now. They are committed to defending, they are committed to playing together and they are committed to sharing the basketball. They are not concerned about who scores the basketball. They are not living and dying by the stat sheet. They are living and dying as a unit. I thought the last game against Washington was a team effort with total commitment. We have two guys, in (Steve) Francis and (Stephon) Marbury, who are leading the cause; those are two guys who are used to scoring 20 points a night. They have given into the team and the team has responded. I was impressed with the intensity of the performance tonight.”

On Shaquille O’Neal missing tonight’s game:
“If Shaquille O’Neal was playing tonight it would have been a different game.”

Knicks Forward Quentin Richardson

On the game:
“We played hard. Everybody played together. Everybody knows it was fun out there. Everybody had fun regardless of how many points you scored. It wasn’t about that tonight. It was about us going out and getting a win. It was great. The best part about it was they way we played together, played hard, and played defense. We had a lot of fun. [A game like this] kind of makes you open your eyes and think about what can happen when we play hard and play together like that.”

Knicks Center Eddy Curry

On the game:
“It was a lot of fun tonight. I felt like we really made a huge step as far as playing as a team and learning how to win as a team. We went out there and we shared the ball and everybody had a great night. Everybody had fun. We are going to go home tomorrow and try to do the same thing. We have guys like Steph [Stephon Marbury] and Steve [Francis] who are used to scoring 20-plus points a game. We have guys that can really fill it up. When we win a game like this [with balanced scoring], we realize that is how we are going to win. That is how we have to win.”

Knicks Guard Jamal Crawford

On the game:
“Everybody can do so much individually. We are now doing it together as a team when you see wins like this. This has been the most balanced victory so far. It feels good to come in and spread the ball out and make plays.”

Knicks Forward David Lee

On the New York Knick’s defense:
“We have been trying to better our defense. If we do that, we have the personnel and the athleticism to play good defense.”