January 16, 2008 | AmericanAirlines Arena | Miami HEAT - 96 | Chicago Bulls- 126
HEAT Head Coach Pat Riley
On the game:
“That’s two in a row from the standpoint of letting them go. That was about as complete of a loss as you can have. The competitiveness for two and a half quarters just left quickly. The team didn’t quit - it’s just bad. We just played bad. When you give up 126 points defensively at home and you’ve already lost ten in a row, it’s bad. I have now, tonight, at this moment, no answers for it. We’ve been trying to figure this out for a long time, but that was pretty complete tonight.”
On the team’s defensive effort:
“Our defense is habitual right now. It’s born out of the habits of not working hard enough.”
On the team’s defensive mentality:
“It’s very hard to do that in practice because it takes its toll, but in a game it’s easy then. It’s normal. If you have a three hour practice, you complain about it for a month, and then after about a month it becomes normal and it’s easy. Then when you have a two hour practice, they complain about why are you cutting it so short. It’s the culture.”
“They can’t guard anyone right now. That’s the way it’s been for the last two games. I think they can, but they’re really going to have to apply themselves in what we do in practice, apply themselves in the walk through and do the things that we do. That’s what defense is about. Fifty percent is about effort.”
“If the team doesn’t defend, then there is something wrong with the system and the system has to be tweaked. Tonight it was just a question of playing poor. They [Chicago] played well. They lost two in a row, and they came in here on a back-to-back, and they were pretty geared up. They played extremely well.”
On the team’s desire to continue to try winning:
“I think that question is a little premature. You have to ask them that question. Do I think they want to win? Sure, I think they have the desire. We’re just a bad team and they don’t want to accept that.”
HEAT Center Shaquille O'Neal
On the loss:
“We just need to try to get it together. Pat (Riley) me and Dwyane (Wade) have been saying the same thing the whole year. We have to pick it up.”
“Guys were looking for me. I just continue to take my high percentage shots like I always do. I want to play my game.”
On the desire to play defense:
“One, you have to want to play, you have to want to stop your man. We just have to play better defense as a team. We need a little more effort like Coach always says.”
On the offense:
“Offense shoots the ball ok, we have seventh or eighth (best) field goal percentage. We just have to stop teams.”
HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade
On the game:
“They got into a rhythm early. In the first quarter, they scored like 34 points and it just went for the rest of the game.”
“Tonight the (Chicago) Bulls came in and put one on us good. They played a complete game. This was a real butt whipping from the beginning to the end. We played hard but we didn’t play hard enough.”
On Shaq:
“He looked pretty good. He got like 24 points. We looked for him to get the ball. When he got the ball he was very aggressive going to the basket. He did a good job tonight.”
On the team’s defense:
“It’s all about the effort that is put forth. It’s not about system.”
On being on a losing team:
“It is difficult to come every day and lose every time. It’s a part of life. It’s a part of your job, and you just have to take it on your chin and try to find a way to make it better, knowing that one day we will.”
HEAT Forward Udonis Haslem
On the team's effort:
“Right now we are not a good team defensively at all. We can’t guard the ball and we don’t close out well. We are just not a good team defensively, bottom line.”
“We need to practice. We have to go back to the drawing board. Probably need to go back to some old school drills. Maybe an hour or two of straight defense. We’ll see tomorrow. I’m pretty sure Coach (Pat Riley) will have something lined up.”
“I don’t think people are not trying or playing hard. We are just not a good defensive team individually or collectively.”
On Shaq:
“He played well. He got into the paint and got a couple jump hooks. A couple explosive dunks. He got fouled and got to the line and knocked down his free throws. It’s good to have the Big Fella back.”
Chicago Bulls
Head Coach Jim Boylan
On the Game:
“I’m really pleased with the way our guys responded. It has been a tough week for us and a tough road trip. We end up 2 and 2 on the trip, which was exactly what we needed. Obviously you want to try to make up some more ground, but given the situation that we are in, I thought our guys really showed some character tonight.”
“When you are shooting the ball the way we were, it’s a really simple, easy game. We shared the ball, I thought we gave each other good looks with our ball movement, and the tempo that we played with is exactly what we needed.”
“Really great effort by a lot of people.”
“We had good looks. We created a lot of that with the tempo of the game, and the ball movement. Just kind of hitting the open man and moving it around, people playing unselfishly. We had several instances where we threw the ball to people at the top of the circle. In past games this year, they would have shot that. Instead they moved it to the next guy, and he shot an open shot in the corner. That is the way the Chicago Bulls have played over the last couple of seasons. It was great to see it tonight.”
“This is a big win for us. With all that has been swirling around us, we didn’t want to go home with another loss. This is nice for the guys. I think it relieves a little bit of the pressure, but at the same time, we can’t relax now just thinking that we got one game and now we can take it easy. My job as the coach will be to continue to press our guys and remind them about who we are and how we need to play in order to be successful.”
On Thabo Sefolosha:
“He is getting more consistent minutes, and he is kind of finding his game and playing within himself. When he does that, he is effective because he can do some things out there. He is a very good defensive player, and he rebounds the ball. Tonight he was making his shot, and he wasn’t forcing anything.”
“With his size and his ability to handle the ball, you have somebody out there that you can put on bigger people. Tonight he did a nice job on Dwyane (Wade).”
