HEAT Acting Head Coach Ron Rothstein

On how tough was it to score against Boston:
“It was pretty obvious.”

“We did shoot 29 free throws, we tried pretty much I think what we could with what we had. But what happens with them (Celtics) is they wail on you so much. They are such a good defensive team they take your legs out, I’m not talking about cutting a guy, I am saying they take your legs out even when you get a wide open shot. We did have some decent looks and we didn’t knock any of those down. This may sound simplistic and maybe I’m fuming a bit, but they didn’t exactly light the scoreboard up tonight either. Our guys were playing hard and trying to defend these guys. We held them under 40 percent, they had 88 points. Those bench guys have been p well for them, we battled them fairly well, but we gave up 34 second chance points. Come on, I mean we had no shot. If you’re going to have a decent chance at all, you haveto hang around the glass and come out firing, but that’s not what happened. Maybe if we hung around more, but that’s not what happened.”

HEAT Guard Ricky Davis

On how tough it is to score against Boston’s defense:
“Well they just on the same page defensively. Everybody is talking to each other, helping each other, kind of like they on a string out there. It is one of the best defensive teams in the league.”

On what Miami tried offensively:
“We tried to do a lot of stuff. There’s just not a lot of stuff we can run with the new guys, and they just took out everything we tried to run. It’s tough.”

If some of the first half shots go down does the game have a different feel:
“A little bit, maybe it’s a different game. Anytime you let a team get 32 second chance points, you are kind of defeating the purpose, defeating the game already.”

On feeling pressure that if you didn’t score on the first shot you weren’t going to get the rebound:
“Not really. I think it goes back to giving them all the second chance points. You know we held them on defense one time but once a team that good gets the ball two, or three, or four times to score its kind of unstoppable.”

HEAT Forward Stephane Lasme

On the pressures of only having a ten day contract:
“I didn’t think too much about it today until right now. I think I did what I had to do within my ten days. If they don’t like me and don’t keep me for another ten days it nothing I can really control.”

On making sure to be noticed by the coaches:
“I think the hardest thing is before the ten days, was to getting as much exposure as I could. They obviously saw something they liked in me and the easiest thing was to come in here and do what I know. I think I did everything I could out there. There’s no regret or anything like that.”

On how difficult it is to show your skills in a game like tonight:
“As an athlete you always want to win. But if the game is out of hand I don’t think it’s the right time for me to think about my ten days when the game is on the line. Even if we are down 20 I still think the game is on the line.”

Celtics Head Coach Doc Rivers

On the game:
“I was happy with the win. I was happy with the start of the game. And then from that point on we just kind of played the game, but not really great. So the only thing I just want us to keep working on is execution. I thought we got a little bit away from that. But I thought overall, just the defensive effort was good throughout the game. So I’m happy. It was a win, and we’ll take it.”

On Leon Powe:
“He’s been playing great. He really has been. And you know, the offensive part I really could care less about, even though I’ll take his 17. But he’s getting it from setting picks and doing the little things, and then we’re finding him. And that’s how he should play. You know he had a little stretch like this and then he got away from it for a couple games; he was looking for baskets instead of doing his job first. And he struggled in those games, and now he’s back to being what he can be every night. So I’m real happy for him because he’s playing hard, he’s executing as well as anybody, and he deserves it.”

On becoming the first off the bench:
“Well he’s just stayed solid as far as his effort. You could see it a little bit before we started playing tonight. I made a comment to our coaches that I said, ‘I think Leon’s getting it. I think he’s got it. I think it’s time to throw him in there.’ And he has. The one thing you know: no one’s ever going to out-tough him. He’s going to give you an honest effort every night. And when he executes and does all the small things, he becomes a good player for us. I mean, the one thing I still wish we did with him or more second unit: there’s times where he has some nice match-ups on the post and we don’t throw it to him. It’s been a sticking point with me for about two or three weeks. You know, look down there. Our second unit has gotten into that habit because before that they didn’t have that, you know, playing out on the perimeter and playing pick and roll ball, that’s good. But if you’ve got a post player, you’ve got to throw it to him. And we’ve got to just keep looking for him with our second unit.”

On Sam Cassell:
“Up and down, but he’s getting it. He’s getting it a little bit better. But he’s going to get it, eventually.”

Was sitting the starters about getting the bench more minutes?:
“Yeah, yeah. When we have a lead like that you’re just not going to play them anyway. So if we get leads like that then they will sit, obviously. I thought we did a pretty good job in the first half of six extremely hard minutes out of them, then I started subbing. And then the third quarter they actually didn’t come out with that same energy that they had, but they had a twenty point cushion, so you understand.

Celtics Forward Paul Pierce

On the 17 Miami field goals :
“Man I am going to tell you the truth. You got Powell, Barron, Lasme, Ahearn, we supposed to do that. They got D-Leaguers out there so I think we just handled our business, I mean they put about 4 or 5 guys from the D-League in and we did our business, we supposed to do that. We knew this was a game we was supposed to win and we just focused from the jump and went out and did it.”

Celtics Forward Kevin Garnett

On the game:
“You know up until this point we are trying to prepare and get ourselves ready for the playoffs. The competition is what should motivate you to be honest. We definitely didn’t want to lose the game, or play with the game, or mess around with the game. So we just came out aggressive and never looked back to tell you the truth.”

On competition:
“Competing, you know they got guys, I know Ricky Davis he’s a competitor. I know Mark Blount he is going to compete. They got guys over there trying to probably fight for jobs or looking for jobs for next year. Just a great opportunity for guys, especially from the D-League don’t get a lot of opportunities to come in and play and they want to show what they have and they want to showcase themselves. Just cant do it in the Garden, just cant do it on the Celtics that’s all.”

On the 17 Miami field goals :
“Our defense man, I mean it has been our bread and butter all year and tonight was no different from that.”

Celtics Guard Ray Allen

On NBA record:
I did hear it. Any time that you can become part of NBA history is something special. I think for the most part we did it as a team. Defensively, we’ve prided ourselves all year. It was one of those funny games where we wanted to play well on both ends. Offensively, I didn’t think we were great. Defensively, we had our principles where they needed to be.”

“Not that it was hard to concentrate, but you just have to make sure you do the small things because teams like that, most of those guys are playing for contracts and they want to be with the team next year, and they the team to see what they can do. So we just have to do the small things and make sure we didn’t give them any confidence early.”

On Offense for show. Defense for dough:
To win big games you have to play defense. You have to play the type of defense that is going to shut teams down and make them uncomfortable, and make them go to their second and third options.”

“It is great for this building because it gives us a great advantage because it keeps the fans going, it keeps them rowdy.”

Celtics Forward Leon Powe

On the game:
“I think sitting on the bench, anybody is going to get discouraged but it is what you do in the meantime. I just try to go back in there and go back to the drawing board. I like to just go back there and practice, work hard, work out, come in extra, just try to do anything that is possible to get me out there on the floor. I told myself that when I am out there I want to be productive every minute I’m out there, even if it is just for a minute or two.”

“I’ve worked for everything my whole life, I have been battling for something, nothing came easy for me, so I want to play but I’m going to have to earn it, and I have to go out there and show them that I can play a little bit. Its not about what you did in college, its about what your going to do at this level, and if I can play and get out there in the 4th just for a little bit I think I’ll be alright, I just have to get out there.”

On NBA record:
“We set an NBA record? Like I said, we all know our rotation, with Tom Thibodeau makes us work hard at the defensive end in practice, and we just try to go out there and bring that defensive intensity, and try to do it every single game.”

“We can score with the best of them, but if you aren’t getting those stops its not going to work, you might end up losing some of those games, but if we can create stops and turnovers, even if our shots aren’t falling you can still get easy baskets.”