HEAT Head Coach Pat Riley

On the game:
“I just went through all the numbers today, because in the last 3 games we’ve had double digits in the fourth or at least in the third, we’re up 74-60 and they hit 4 threes in a row and got back into the game. From that point on that’s what it was. But, we’re missing a lot of shots. We just missed wide open shots. It wasn’t unill we we’re down that Eddie (Jones) hit a big shot and then Udonis (Haslem), when the game is on the line. But anything in between that, all the shots we got, even Shaq inside on short little jump hooks, and any open shot we got prior to that were not good. So, what we’re not doing, because I don’t think we have those kind of players. We’re not getting to the rim, we’re not able to create our own shots. We’ve gotta run offense and we’re not getting to the free throw line. So everything has to come down to field goals made. So, again, we’re very fortunate to dodge a bullet tonight. Gerald Green makes a jumper, you just never know what happens.”

“Yeah, this what you call sort of a trap game. The dynamics are such that everybody is down and up with them. We played a tough game last night. I showed a lot of patience with the team tonight. You know, just hoping we could get out, do what we have to do, but sometimes these things happen. But the important thing is we end up winning on the road and now we go home and play Charlotte. So, that’s all there is about right now.”

HEAT Guard Eddie Jones

What does it feel like to end a seven minute scoreless drive?
“Well, it felt great. It felt like we were going to send it into overtime. It was 80 points at the time, we matched it; came down and got a stop and just won the game another way.”

What did it feel like till then, going through another drought?
“Well it’s tough, you know what I mean. You got to believe that you’re going to make some shots. We were getting shots at the rim. We were getting open three’s; you had to believe that you were just going to make them. Sometimes you go through droughts. Fortunately, we were able to defend when the game was on the line.”

HEAT Forward Udonis Haslem

You were stuck on eighty for quite a few minutes, what was the deal with that?
“Well, we didn’t make shots. Like I said, when it comes down the stretch we have to move the ball around and when we get good shots we have to make them. Had a couple turnovers and some shots that we missed, but we made the ones that counted.”

HEAT Guard/Forward James Posey

That’s one heck of a pass from Shaq, followed up by a nice lay-up by you. :
“Yeah, I mean I didn’t expect it. He is a big guy with nice passing abilities and he found the open guy.

Re: How do you characterize that fourth quarter, it was such an ugly period of basketball :
“They played with a lot of energy and they made shots, they made plays, they got stops and the ball bounced our way. We made some buckets when we needed to, that was key”

Boston Celtics Head Coach Doc Rivers

On the game:
“That was a great game for all our young guys. I had a lot of fun coaching this game tonight because I thought in the second half, really we did a little bit in the second quarter, but in the third and fourth quarter the execution was almost flawless by our guys. I mean, we got everything we wanted, we got back cuts. Even to that last shot, we got Gerald (Green) a great shot for three. We were going to go for the win, whatever they had done when that shot that (Udonis) Hasmlem hit, and we were going to end up going for the tie, obviously. But we drew it up; they executed it without a time out. I was just really proud of them. Eddie Jones made a huge shot, just a big three. Gerald kind of got lost and mixed up on the switch. That happens; I can live with that. I was just happy with the way our guys fought the entire night. I mean, Perk (Kendrick Perkins) is going to need a hot bath tonight. There’s no doubt about it. But, again, I was just proud, I was real proud of our guys. They played terrific.”

Holding the Heat scoreless for part of the fourth quarter:
“Yeah, the defense was great and that’s why we kept Leon (Powe) in. We had Leon and Perk and they both were cleaning up the paint, they were getting every rebound. Sometimes you have to make a choice as a coach: add more offense to win it offensively or keep the defense on, to win it defensively. And we gave ourself a chance to win the game because of the defense in the fourth quarter.”

Did Perkins frustrate Shaquille O’Neal:
“Well I thought Perk and Kevinn (Pinkney) and Leon all did a nice job of pushing under, you know. We just kept saying, ‘below the waist, not above the waist.’ You have no chance if you try to fight him above the waist. So, we just told Perk to try to get as low as he can and push below the waist. You know, bigs don’t like people down below the waist. And I thought that. And I thought we did a nice job of every other time – one time when we would trap, the next time we wouldn’t. Then the one time we would, because Shaq is a great passer. He absolutely is. And our thought is to just try to keep the passer off-balance. Because that’s what he wants to do. He wants you to double so he can pick you apart. And I thought our guys did a nice job there.”

Tthoughts of using a time out at the end:
“No, I liked the flow. I thought if we called a time out you allow a bigger, smarter team to set up their defense. And we knew exactly: every time they used a time out I called two plays ahead. We knew exactly what we wanted to run. We got Gerald a great shot in the dribble hand-off; that’s exactly what we wanted. And Gerald at the elbow wide-open: I’ll take that. And then at the end of the game, Gerald wide-open behind the three – I’ll take both of those shots. So I just didn’t feel comfortable with that team calling the time out, allowing them to set up their defense.”

Celtics Center Kendrick Perkins

Re Shaq:
“The beast? He’s a best, I mean I don’t know what else to say about him. He’s strong. He’s got post moves to it’s pretty hard. He can pass out the double team so the best way to hold is just to wear him down for four quarters. I mean your not really going to just stop him, you have to wear him down.”

Re Shaquille O’Neal only had two points in the second half:
“Well that’s a good thing, but he had twenty in the first.”

Re seemed like Shaquille O’Neal was getting frustrated and started rushing shots:
“I thought Leon (Powe) worn him down before I in in the fourth. Leon (Powe) worn him down in the whole third and I just came in and just backed him up. We still should have won the game though I think.”

Re the team played well in the fourth quarter until the last minute:
“Yea I know. We were up three with 1:33 left and I thought we were going to win it, but that’s the Championship team so you have to expect them to dig out of situations like that. It’s a veteran team, a lot of play makers.”

Re is this an example you can take into next year:
“Well yeah. I thought everybody came out with the mindset to compete and try to win the game. I don’t think nobody wasn’t playing hard tonight. I thought we got off to a slow start in the first but we picked it up and started executing. I think they only scored like what 88 points. So good defense on the night.”

Celtics Forward Leon Powe

Re Shaq:

Re effort of the team tonight:
“Yeah all my teammates, we played hard. We had each other back on their on the floor. We executed out there so because of that we was in it ‘till the end, till the fourth quarter.”

Re what do you personally take out of this to Indiana tomorrow:
“We are a good team. We believe in ourselves. We go out there and execute and we can score. That’s how we can score buckets and run the floor and get some easy steaks, something like that you know, do a little bit of everything and that’s how we can get points on the board.”

Re why were you able to slow Shaquille O’Neal down so much in the second half:
“I was just trying to fight him that’s all you know, just trying to make sure I just kept a body on him, don’t try to go on the side of him cus I know he’s going to go for the lob so if I just stay behind him and just try to challenge shots into my teammates they helped me out a lot. It’s a taught tasks for anybody.”

Re playing the defending champions with only three guys on the bench:
“When we were coming out for warm ups it looked like we didn’t have that much of a team. I was looking around when we were in warm-ups and we were just circled around instead of throwing the ball up. But you know all we got to do is go out there and execute and that’s what Doc (Rivers) told us. If we execute we could score some points and play defense. We played team defense today and we helped each other out.”