HEAT Head Coach Pat Riley

On the game:
“We just couldn’t sustain what we did in the third quarter. It was as well as we played in a long time from a defensive standpoint. Then in the fourth quarter we just began to miss shots. We had a lot of good shots, and good looks, but we only shot 24 or 25 percent. They got back into the game and we had two shots at tying the game. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”

Did the team rely too much on Dwyane Wade in the fourth quarter:
“No.” “We had a hell of a run in the third quarter. A lot of it was off of other people also kicking to him. He’s an attacker. He was shooting the jumper. We had other shots in the fourth quarter and we just didn’t nail them down.”

On Brandon Roy’s play:
“He’s a very crafty guy off the dribble. He hurt us with two post-ups. We were expecting pick-and-rolls, and he went away from the pick-and-rolls and got to the rim a couple of times. We probably overextended our defense on him a little bit too much, but we had to speed the game up. When we got down eight, nine points, we had to speed the game up.”

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

On the third quarter:
“The third quarter was probably the best quarter we’ve played in two years around here. We thought that was the turning point, but it wasn’t.”

On the fourth quarter:
“They played solid and made shots. We didn’t make any at first, then came back and got it within two. It was a back and forth battle. Down the stretch they made free throws and got to the line more than us.”

HEAT Center Shaquille O' Neal

On the game:
“Like Dwyane (Wade) said, it was a back and forth battle in the fourth. They played tough ‘D’. Guys played hard tonight. If we can keep having efforts like that, I think we can turn this thing around. We just have to keep fighting. Hopefully it will turn around.” “I’m feeling pretty good. Offense really hasn’t been our problem. We just have to stop people. We just have to close out games and learn how to win again. We know what our mistakes are; we just need to fix them.”

HEAT Forward Udonis Haslem

On the loss:
“We have got to get a win. That is the only thing right now.”

On the fourth quarter:
“The defensive intensity went to another level in the third quarter and we just couldn’t sustain it throughout the fourth. It’s due to the fact that we haven’t played defense at a high level for a long period of time all season. We have to get used to playing defense at a high level over a long period of time. We haven’t shown that we can do it for a whole game. We broke down at the wrong time.” “I’m going to take it one game at a time. One win won’t get everything back, but it will get everybody headed in the right direction.”

On the run in the third quarter:
“It felt like old times to me.”

HEAT Forward Dorell Wright

On the loss:
“We just have to find a way and try to get some wins.” “We played very good ‘D’ in the third quarter. We got ahead and just have to continue to just go out there and defend like we did in that third quarter. Different guys brought energy, knocking down big shots, like Jason (Williams) and Ricky (Davis). We just need guys to continue to do that and just play defense a little harder.” “We are going to try to get back tomorrow and put this behind us and try to get a win.”

Trailblazers Head Coach Nate McMillan

On the game;
“Coach Riley challenged them in practice. They had a physical aggressive practice. But we still wanted to win the scrap game, the physical game, and the hustle game. We just wanted to be sharp.”

“We took a punch. We had control of the game, and then we took a punch from them in the third quarter. They had a 35-point quarter, but we stood up and came together in the fourth quarter. We were able to recover and win the game. That is part of the growth that we are starting to see. We were rattled for a bit, but we came together and calmed down. We slowed down against the pressure defense. We were able to score and regain our confidence.”

“We were going back and forth on how we were going to play the second half. In the fourth quarter, our bigs had used their fouls. We needed LaMarcus Aldridge in the game. We needed shooting in the game. I thought about putting Joel Przybilla on Shaquille O’Neal, but we gambled with LaMarcus on Shaq, and he did a nice job staying in front of him. He had fouls to use. We could keep some offense on the floor. Brandon Roy did a nice job finishing plays and creating offense for us.”

Trailblazers Guard Brandon Roy

On the game:
“They really brought it to us in the third quarter. Dwyane (Wade) did a great job of rallying his guys, and at the end of the third quarter, our coach came up to us and said, ‘Look, fellas, we’re having fun when everything is going good, but how do we respond when things go bad for us?’ I think everybody took it as a challenge to come out in the fourth quarter and we showed that we can get tough when things get a little nasty.”

On Dwyane Wade:
“He did a great job of attacking us those first three quarters, and in the fourth quarter, I definitely wanted to step my game up and do a better job of keeping him in front, put some pressure on him and make him work on the other end. And we were just fortunate enough to get a win.”

“I was just disappointed in the way that Dwyane was just dominating our team, pretty much the same way Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen did, and I was like, if we’re going to lose, we’ll at least lose giving our best effort. So in the fourth quarter, I was saying, ‘look guys, let’s get our heads up. It’s a close game. We can still win this game.’ And we felt they gave us their best shot in the third quarter, and I think once I was able to be more aggressive, we realized that and we started going at them a little bit.”

“I want to stay aggressive. Dwyane went extremely hard the first three quarters. He did a great job of rallying his team, and I think he was maybe a little fatigued, but just in case he was, I wanted to put more pressure on him on the defensive end. And it worked out for me. I was able to get to the basket and get a couple of free throws, and it kind of got us in a rhythm.”

Trailblazers Center LaMarcus Aldridge

On the third quarter:
“We came out kind of slow, and then we got kind of good, and then it died off. They went on a run, and I think we picked it up defensively in the fourth and we got the win.”

On the come from behind win:
“We have been in that position lately – winning games when we are down five or ten in the fourth or the third. You just have to put it on your defense, and we put it on our defense and we made some big time plays.” “I think I worked hard this summer on my game and I knew I was going to have more opportunities. I want to be the best to ever play the game. If I keep working hard every summer, the sky is the limit.”