HEAT Head Coach Pat Riley

On the game:
"It was a very competitive game. We have to be concerned about some of the things they got in transition. Every time we turned the ball over, they converted it into something. And their rebounding against us all year has been a problem. We had a chance. These kinds of game - you just never know what's going to happen. We got all the way back and there was no rebound to be had. If we go the board at that point, you never know where the game would have gone. But that is not the case. We have to go back and look at it."

Dwyane Wade's three point attempt at the end:
"We needed screeners on that play and I wanted Dwyane to bank that shot. I thought he would be driving to his left and raise up and bang - but it is hard to get an open three against this team. We tried to run some plays and get specific shots."

Fouls on Shaq:
"I don't want to make any excuses, he took two or three charges and he has size 22 shoes that he cannot get out of the box. His heel is on the line and those were blocking fouls. We tried to get his shoes out of there so it is an offense foul. He is trying to get in front of the ball. Not having him in takes us out of our rhythm."

On Dwyane Wade, talking to him at the end:
"There was one play we ran where there was some confusion. We got enough out of what we wanted at the end and the Bulls made some great plays and some great shots. Our players have to be aware of which way the Bulls are forcing Dwyane. Sometimes they force him to his left hand and sometimes they pick the other side. So we need to recognize whether we switch on the picks or slip out."

Eddie Jones defense on Ben Gordon:
"Gordon is a hard cover right now. He is quick, he gets great lift, he gets by people. Sometimes length is good on him and sometimes quickness is good, also. I thought we did a decent job but we fouled him too much."

You talked about the Bulls' moxie and energy, did you see anything different in them today?
"Everything they ran they did last year. But Luol Deng did not get 33. He has struggled a little bit but he had a monster game. Anytime they needed something he was making jumpers or slashing. There is obviously a level of maturity that they have that just comes from the growth of the young kids."

On Matching their energy and transition points:
"A lot of that stuff comes off either bad shots or turnovers. We need to evaluate shot-selection. In the first half we got the shots we wanted but we did not stop them enough. Twenty-five fast break points is a lot but against us they have always run, that is part of their gameplan."

On Putting some size on Ben Gordon and Luol Deng's quick start:
"We like Eddie's length on Gordon and like they do, they don't put Gordon on Dwyane - they want to save him for scoring. Part of it is that Kirk is such a good defender. We cannot expect Dwyane to do both for 35 or 40 minutes in a game. Obviously, we do need to make an adjustment. Deng go off to a good start. He is a very opportunistic player.

On Thabo Sefolosha's defense on Dwayne Wade:
"We have done some film work on him. He's got long arms. Dwayne needs to get some space between them."

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

On the3 point shot at the end:
"I had a good look. Coach told me to use glass, but I did not have the angle."

How long did it take you to get in a rhythm:
"The main thing is I am trying to get space, they did a good job of loading up on me early. Late in the game, I was able to get my space and hit my shots. We were able to attack them at the end."

Confident about the strong 4th quarter finish:
"We are still confident about game 2. We did a lot of things wrong. We gave up a lot of fast break points. We drew some stupid fouls. We're looking to play better. On the road you want to learn from your mistakes."

On Sefolosha's play against him:
"He is a veryu long guy and I have never played against him before so I had to make that adjustment. I had to make the adjustment, but early on he was able to get into rhythm against me.

On the Bulls' running screens to get Deng open low:
"They ran him off screens and he is 6'9", so thry tried to get him to a nice comfortable spot to go over the top. we did not do a good job early of getting help. Deng did not try to do too much, he had a good solid game. He is one of the best finishers in the game."

HEAT Forward Antoine Walker

On the game:
"It's tough to play the second half without your two best players. Also, the Nocioni play was huge for them. We'll be ok, but we just need to stop fouling. We got pretty much any shot we wanted so it wasn't their defense that hurt us. We just need to come in on Tuesday with a killer attitude and play 48 minutes."

HEAT Center Shaquille O'Neal

On the game:
"We just let one get away today. They had a lot of help out there tonight. We just need to go out there on Tuesday with the same effort and we'll be fine."

"We still had a lot of chances to win. We just didn't do what we were supposed to do. We had good offensive rhythm in the third quarter. We just need to get more stops and play better defense. We have to attack the glass more aggressively and block certain people out. If we do that we'll be fine on Tuesday. I'm just disappointed that we had this opportunity to win and didn't."

His sixth foul:
"I thought I was just standing there. Even if I did have part of the back of my foot on the line, they couldn't make that call watching two things at once. The inconsistency is just very frustrating."

Chicago Bulls Head Coach Scott Skiles

On fast break points:
"They are important. Last year our overall pace was out of contrl, under control- and constantly running. Tonight I thought we did a good job with transition points including our spacing and moving the ball."

On Thabo Sefolosha's defense:
"I thought he was good all around. His defense was solid. He did a nice job of staying down on Dwyane Wade. His hands were active. I thought his offense was good, too. He did not force anything and he moved the ball well. When he was open he shot the ball with confidence. I was happy for both the rookies."

On the Heat coming close and the Bulls not folding:
"We won a playoff game but I am more concerned with how e gave up a 9 point lead that quickly. Our guys are always going to battle and they are going to play hard. We were fortunate enough to make good plays at the end. We need to be a little more stable at the end. We are comfortable with our group and have been shown enough of those situations that we are going to be able to play through it."

On Ben gordon handling the ball with Hinrich's foul trouble:
"I thought Ben did a nice job. With Nocioni back we were able to do a high pick and roll game. They were going to the high pick and roll themselves with Antoine Walker. Ben Gordon was going to get out there with Nocioni and make some plays. Those of you who follow us know that Ben is capable of doing that- tonight he was just forced into that duty and he did a nice job of it."

On Luol Deng's performance:
"I am happy for him. We thought that they would start with Dwyane Wade on him and we could get Lu inside early and get him a couple of baskets and that came to fruition. Lu is the kind of guy I don't worry about, he is low maintenance. He has had such a great year. It was only a matter of time until he busted out."

On Shaq getting to the basket easily early on:
"We were out of position early on. We wanted to get down there on the dribble. We were late getting down there. Shaq was able to get to the middle and take the shot with his favorite jomp hook. As the game went on, we mixed it up a little bit and later on went back to single coverage. there is no question that the foul trouble affected the game. One of our best players played only 19 minutes because of foul trouble."

On 3 point shooting:
"We were the 2nd best 3 point shooting team during the season. But, the guys are pretty judicious with it, they never abuse it. We average 15 3's a game and make 6 of them. Today it was not going in for us. there will be another game hopefully where we will be able to spread the floor and the shots will go in. We did have a big one by Nocioni in the 4th quarter. It's a part of our game, but not necessarily something that we live or die by."

Fair to say you need Kirk on the floor?
"We were very fortunate to win when Kirk has a game like that. It is not ofter that it happens. Kirk got early foul trouble. It was kind of unfortunate circumstances. We need him to play better."

Bull's Guard Kirk Hinrich

On the game:
"We're definitely really happy to get the win. It was really an ackward game. Momentum went back and forth. But, we fought through it and are very happy to get the win."

On his personal frustration level:
""It's probably the most frustrating game I've ever played in. I didn't play much. It was tough watching the game from the bench because this definitely one of those games you want to be on the floor. I felt like I couldn't catch a break. It's dificult when there's 8 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter and you've only been on the floor for 8 minutes."

"We had a lot of guys step up. Thabo came in and really played well. Guys stepping up is what we have to have if we are going to prevail."

Bulls Center Ben Wallace

On guarding O'Neal:
"We just wanted to play him honest. He finished the first half with 17 points and 2 or 3 assists. If he's going to score like that, we certainly can't let him get other guys involved too."

Bulls Guard Thabo Sefolosha

If he felt Wade was struggling:
"Not really. He came strong in the 2nd half and really got his team back in the game."

On his first playoff appearance:
" It's just another basketball game. That's how I see it. It's just that I'm in the NBA, now. I'm just trying to have fun and good things happen for me."

On Hinrich's foul trouble placing pressure on him:
"I really try no to think about it. I try to just think about the guy across from me because he's going to play hard and I'm going to have to go just as hard, too. I knew Kirk was in foul trouble so I was just trying to do my best."

Bulls Forward/Guard Luol Deng

How confident were you before the game:
"I did not know what to expect. I just wanted to play hard out there. As a team we did a great job of moving the ball and I had a lot of wide open shots."

On a long series:
"This game was really big. Now that we have the lead, most of the time the team that loses has to adjust. We did a lot of things today that worked for us. We will probably continue that."

Was there a point where you thought this was your day?
"I just kept playing in rhythm. I just did not want to get out of control. We had a nice flow going so I just kept taking the open shots."

On Hinrich being out:
"Kirk got in foul trouble but Thabo came in and did a great job. When he came in he challeneged Wade's shot and we kind of picked it up from there. In the 2nd half, Thabo hit some big shots for us."

On being guarded by a shorter player:
"I knew who was guarding me. Throughout most of the game I had Wade on me. I knew as the game went on there would be a lot of mismatches. We did not try to fall into that, we just tried to play our game. When I had small on me, we did not try to change what we were doing, we just kept the same game plan."

What was different about this game?
"We did a better job of moving the ball. That was the key for us. When you play a team like Miami you can't let them sit in their defense, you have to move the ball."

Did you try to take advantage of Wade's arm?
"I am not using a lot of strength in my game. We just want to play the way we play. Our game involves a lot of pick and rolls. That was one of the reasons they put Wade on me early. We cannot start concentrating on that, we just have to play the way we play. I wanted to be aggressive especially when we were moving the ball. I wanted to be aggressive, not just take jump shots."

On the mindset of the team:
"I think it is that this year we are more mature. We are going into the playoffs more confident. My first year I was hurt. Last year was my first playoffs. I was a little more nervous last year. Just knowing what to expect, we are ready."