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PLAYER OF THE GAME

Dwyane Wade Points: 31 FGM-A: 8-11 FTM-A: 15-19 Assists: 5 Blocks: 2 Minutes: 44

The disparity in the fouls, how much did that hurt you guys tonight?
Man, I thought it hurt us a lot. We came out, closed the gap, got the game where it was kind of nip and tuck after that first half. I thought it made a difference, but it is what it is, man.

You guys have been down 3 1 before but maybe not against a team of this caliber. Talk about how much fight is left in you guys and the task at hand?
We have a lot of fight. We have been down 3 1 before, not against a team as good as the Heat, though. They're playing great, man. You've got to give it to them. They're playing great ball. They're great players, playing phenomenal. The other guys are chipping in pretty well. The bottom line is we're going home. We're a great home team, and we've got to get one game. We've got to look at it as a one game series the rest of the way. We've got to play one game and then think about the next one. If we don't focus in on that one game, then the season will be over.

How much do you guys want to come back here? You guys are flying back home, but it would be real nice to be back here for a Game 6?
No question about it. Like I said, we can't even think about Friday right now. We've got to think about Wednesday, you know, because if we don't and we don't put everything we have into Wednesday, there won't be a Friday. Our whole focus right now is to worry about Wednesday's game and just go out and leave everything on the court.

Ud has only had two points in the first two games combined and now he's had 10. Is there anything he's doing differently and getting more looks?
Well, he's getting looks. He's getting looks by design. We've got to help and double team on Shaq, and we have to give something up, and he's doing a good job of knocking those shots down right now, so he's just not open for no reason. You know, we're helping, doing a lot of helping and scrambling. He's the one that a lot of times is getting the looks. He's doing a good job of knocking them down.

Talk about the start, how you guys got kind of rocked early. I mean, for such an important game, how did that transpire? They were just hot?
They came out, and I thought we came out and played with a lot of energy. But they was hot. They had it going, and we wasn't. We was running our plays, running our sets, and the ball wasn't going down for us. You look at how we played the second half, and we still ended up shooting 39 percent or whatever. They came out and they just were on fire early in the game. We thought that they would try to make a run early in the game, and with this being a big, big game and them being at home, and they did that, and we just couldn't come back until the second part of the second quarter when we closed the game. We played as bad as we could possibly play and were down six at the end of the first half. I think that's encouraging.

On his game:
We did a good job starting the third quarter off, played a little bit of zone here and there, confused them a little bit. I thought we kind of stayed in the zone a little bit too long. After they called a time out, they kind of got adjusted to what we were doing. But that doesn't matter, Wade, Shaq, they're still shooting at a high percentage. If they continue to shoot the way we're shooting, we don't have a chance. But as poorly as we played in the first half, to be down six points was it was pretty good in our situation. We closed the first half off on a good note. If it wasn't for our bench players, we wouldn't have had a chance at all tonight. I thought Dale and Lindsey did a miraculous job. At the time we were down 10, 12, during the game at a crucial point in the game and they made plays. Obviously just a tough situation, down 3 1 now. For us right now it's a situation where we've just got to play every game like it's our last. That's the only chance that we have, and that's it.

How demoralizing is the loss?
I mean, it's tough. Like I told you guys last time after we lost the last game, we've put ourselves in this situation so many times, being down, going up in the series and then the other team coming back and taking advantage in the series, obviously it's catching up with us. But like I said, it's not over. We've got to take it one game at a time. Obviously we've got to take care of our home court coming up here and can't worry about anything else other than that.

You guys have always been able to finish the job. You made good runs in the second half to get back into position and then faded a bit. What do you see?
We played great getting back into the game, Chauncey taking us there in the third, made plays, doing things real well, kind of confusing them a little bit, just there for a little bit in the third quarter giving ourselves a chance to get back into the game. And then here we go, Shaq gets a basket, Wade gets a basket, shooting 50 free throws. I mean, that's a tough situation for us already. Rasheed in foul trouble, Chauncey in foul trouble, Ben in foul trouble. Everything was happening bad for us, but we still had our opportunities. I thought Payton hit the biggest shot of the game there, the three he hit. Udonis Haslem had a terrific game. They had guys step up.

You guys forced 15 turnovers but just two fast break points. Is that maybe one area where you'd like to exploit in this series, maybe gain an advantage?
We had two fast break points, we're not getting the job done. They got 15 turnovers, we've got to do a better job than just two points. We should be in the double digits as far as the fast break points. But those things happen. I mean, the most important thing, like I said, we need to do is find a way to not let them shoot 55, 57. Once again, I think in the first half, they was closer to 60 than anything. That's the stuff we have to stop.

Right or wrong, there's a lot of sentiment that you're not on the same page with Flip and there's some fracturing. How accurate is it?
We can't worry about what's going on in that situation. I thought we did a great job of going out and playing basketball, but people have saw the toughness on the defensive end that we bring all the time hasn't been there lately. But I haven't had any problem with Flip, and I don't think any of the other players have had any problems with Flip. We just go out and try to win game. Miami is playing better. That's the problem more than anything.

Is the defense really that bad, or is Miami just making incredible shots because you guys are only giving up in the mid 80s every game.
Well, Dwyane Wade is hitting tough shots when he's going to the basket or he's hitting jump shots consistently in this series, so he's shooting at a high percentage. Obviously the Shaquille O'Neal situation when he gets in the paint, so those two guys, it's tough to keep them under 50 percent. That's why it's so important that the guys that everybody else is guarding have to try to keep them under their percentages and things like that. Like I said, still, at the same time, we've got to find a way to keep Shaq and Dwyane from shooting at a high pace like they are.

Have you guys ever been in a spot this tight?
No, our backs are against the wall definitely. You want the definition of backs against the wall; 3 1. That tells it all. They definitely outplayed us. There wasn't nothing we could do. Seemed like we tried to cut the lead, just couldn't ever get over the hump.

Wade has had a lot of big scoring games throughout this season, but it seems like in the fourth quarter in particular, he really seems to take control.
They look to go to him every time. He always answers for them. We trapped him, tried to get the ball out of his hands. He'll make plays for other guys their whole team is definitely doing the job stepping up. When he's not scoring, everybody else, other people just seem to take over. We just ain't doing what we're supposed to do.

You guys have always been a very confident team in overcoming diversity and things like that. Where is this team now in that aspect?
That's going to be the challenge here. Going back home right now, this will definitely be our challenge to see if we can do it, see what we're made of now, going home 3 1. That's going to tell the tale. How we respond off of this is going to tell it all.

When you said it feels like there's nothing we can do, are you guys at the point where you almost feel helpless a little bit?
What I mean is you're going to the basket, you're either going to get a foul or he's going to make a shot. You breathe on him, foul, get away from him, he'll make a shot. It could go either way. I mean, whatever you do, it don't matter, he's going to make the play, or if he goes to the bucket they're going to give him a foul regardless. Sometimes you do feel that way because you can't really play physical with him.

How much does that take away from you guys?
Oh, no question, you see the fouls. It seemed like I looked around on the bench and everybody was in foul trouble. That's ridiculous for this team. You try to play physical and you get a foul. What is there for us to do?

What was said in here at halftime?
You know, same old stuff. I mean, we knew what we needed to do, come out, trap the ball. We just had a strategy what we needed to do and stick to it, get the ball out of Wade's hands, contain Shaq, and just pick up the offense, and we did. We did exactly what we were supposed to do and what he told us when we came out for the third quarter and were feeling good about ourselves, but we just couldn't get over the hump.

Was it mostly all players talking in here, or was it mostly Flip?
Oh, everyone. Everybody was on the same page. I can't say we weren't on the same page. Everyone was on the same page. You know, like I said, they just outplayed us tonight. They definitely outplayed us.

How much of a difference do you think Flip made between Game 3 and Game 4?
Big difference.

How so?
Like before we went on the same page, seemed like everyone didn't know what to do. But I think Game 4 is where we all was on the same page. We came out, we're supposed to trap, get the ball out of Wade's hands, run the pick and rolls how we're supposed to run the plays he put in, and we did it all like he told us to. There wasn't no sense in not doing it because we did, and we just came up short. Like I said, they outplayed us, man. There's nothing you can say about that.

On his game:
There's no tomorrow for us. I mean, we've got to go on a game by game basis, and with the next game coming up, just focus on that and leave everything out on the court.

What turned the game around in your mind when you were up six and all of a sudden you were down 12?
Well, I thought we had good momentum, especially in that third quarter. You have to give them credit. They made some good plays during that run to kind of cool us off a little bit, but it was a bang bang game. Even though we didn't play well throughout for 48 minutes, we had good signs, and the main thing right now is just regrouping and getting ready for the next game.

You guys got really physical in the paint tonight. Is that just part of the plan and something you've got to keep going when you get back to Detroit?
I mean, it's playoff basketball. Of course we definitely wanted to win tonight. You know, it's going to be physical, no question about it. We're down now, our backs are pretty much against the wall, and usually when that happens, we respond. So we look forward to the next game.

On how important this victory was:
Yeah, we knew we had to take care of our own, we knew that they were going to come very aggressive today and play the grimy ball that they said they were going to play. I feel we played pretty good. We got kind of razzled when they got into the zone, but we snapped out of it. Our fans kept us going, and our guys played well. Our guys came off the bench and played well, Posey played good, G.P. played good, and it was an all around team effort. We just did what we were supposed to do. Now we just have to try to go up there and close it up.

We're all dying to hear about the one play on the block on the coast to coast.
I have that in my game (laughter). I used to do that when I was a youngster. I'm not a spring chicken anymore.

Dwyane said he hadn't seen that since Orlando.
Yeah, I've been holding back. But it was an opportunity for me to just get the crowd going and get the fans going. I just did what I do best.

How good did it feel for you to do that?
I was born doing that, so I'm kind of used to it. I'm going to be doing that when I'm 60.

No dunk?
No dunk, I just wanted to finger roll it.

What do you call that when you were running down the court after you completed that?
The G Walk.

Talk about holding it in the third quarter at the free throw line as it was very grimy then?
Like I said, it was a very grimy game. We got kind of razzled when they got into the zone. But we snapped out of it. The fans did an unbelievable job of staying involved and staying loud, and we played pretty good defense out there.

The shooters really made shots tonight.
Yeah, they were doubling Dwyane, and Dwyane was doing an excellent job of helping his teammates, getting out the ball, and guys were hitting the shots. Posey hit a big three, G.P. hit a big three, and like I said, it was a good all around team effort.

After Game 3, Walker said Shaq is like forever young right now. In the playoffs right now, how young do you feel and why?
I feel pretty young. This is like the first time I haven't had knick knack injury, so I'm feeling pretty good. It was a different role for me playing with the great Dwyane Wade, but it's a role that I've accepted, and Dwyane is a great player. It would be foolish to have me shoot 40 times and let him shoot ten shots. Dwyane is going to do the bulk of the shots, I'm going to get the second amount, and we all accept that and roll with that. My numbers are going to be different, but it's all about winning.

Some of the shots that he makes like that reverse layup where he was falling, do you say "wow" sometimes?
No. I mean, he's a great player. He still has a lot of room for improvement, and it's my job to make him the best player to ever play the game before I leave. I think I have that ability to do that, and I think he has the ability to become that.

Do you feel like sometimes you have to try to show people, hey, I can go back to back to back, these games, as far as proving to people that you can?
Yeah, I mean, if I get the opportunity to do what I do, I'm going to do that. I'm much older but I'm much smarter. When teams don't double me, I'm just going to high percentage shoot. When they're doubling and tripling, I'm going to be looking for my teammates. It's a better game when everybody is involved.

Talk about your aggressiveness or their over aggressiveness.
We were just moving the ball, staying aggressive, playing with a higher energy. We knew how they were going to come out, and we were ready for that. We stepped up to the challenge and played our game today.

Especially in this series they have been going more and more to you. In Game 2 you worked so hard and then lost, and you guys came down here and right from the first possession they were looking for you more.
We're an inside out team, especially if the team is not going to double, I always tell the guys to look for me. Sometimes we get cute and shoot a lot of jumpers, but most of the time when we play like that, it's not a good outcome. We just have to stick to the script, inside out.

After Game 3 Pat said the team feeds off your energy. Do you think that was true tonight?
Yeah.

Is it something that's just contagious, that they look at you as the leader?
When you feed the big dog, he does whatever you tell him to do (laughter).

How difficult is it to win a fourth game in any series?
It's very difficult, but we just have to be focused. We've just got to play our game. It's a great win today, but we don't want to get too high and mighty. The job is not done yet, so we just want to stay focused, come in tomorrow, look at some film and practice, make adjustments. We know they're a great team when their backs are against the wall, so we're going to have our hands full, but if we do what we're supposed to do, we'll be fine.

You guys have closed out well this postseason. Obviously last season, as well, was a great series. But when it comes down to it, for lack of a better phrase, is it nice to have a couple of those let downs to tell you what not to do?
Like I said, we don't want to get too high and mighty. We still have to make some adjustments. They're still the best team in the east, and they play great at home, and their fans are going to be in the game, and we just have to be ready. We're going to have our hands full, so we almost have to play a damn near perfect game.

Can you talk about Pat's motivational techniques and about the bowl in the middle of the room? Can you talk about how much fun it is to see Pat unveil his motivational techniques before the game?
Are you seeing things? Where's the bowl? I don't know what you're talking about, sorry.

The one with the logo in the middle of the locker room. How good is Pat at it?
Pat is a great speaker, he's a great motivator and has a great resume, but he does an unbelievable job, and that's why he's one of the best to ever do it. I have no idea what you're talking about, a bowl.

You're not drinking the Kool Aid?
No, I don't drink Kool Aid. I drink Propel.

The last series you brought up the Lakers losing to the Suns, the Red Sox motivation. What do you think is going to come up this time?
I don't know. He's great. He's a thinker. He has a lot of quotes in his head. We know what we have to do, and like I said, we have to play a damn near perfect game on Wednesday because we know we're going to have our hands full.

What do you see from Dwyane?
I always tell him just do his thing. Early when they were doing the little travel, I just told him get off the ball and come to me and see what all the other guys want to do in the third and fourth when we force him to back off that track, then you do what you do. He's great because he listens, he's very unselfish, and he does it like Magic Johnson used to do it, very unselfishly, but still puts up his numbers.

On Tayshaun Prince:
He came out very aggressive, something they really wanted to do. He hit some tough shots. They had good defense on them, I thought Antoine did a good job. We stayed with it. We stood everything they threw at us early on and got off to an early lead.

On your mindset going into the fourth quarter:
Well, third quarter they came out very aggressive. We came out with kind of a lack of energy. They were taking me out of the game by doubling teaming me so I was getting off the ball. Fourth quarter I wasn't going to let them do that. I was going to be more aggressive and take the ball to the basket. That was my whole thing. Tonight I tried to get to the rim, and I shot 19 free throws, so that was a sign of aggressiveness.

You know Wednesday night is going to be tough going there. Your mindset, the team's mindset, a chance to close them out?
Just like we've been doing every game, take one game at a time, know that they're going to come out very aggressive. They're a great home team. They'll come out with a lot of energy so we have to come out with our own and take everything they throw at us. Just be there at the end to try to give yourself a chance. We're hoping to get the next one.

Coach Riley has said that he hasn't seen anyone quite like you, that you're very special. Shaq actually mentioned the Magic word. When you hear those things, how do you respond to that? Do you even believe it?
No, not really (laughing). I mean, I'm just a kid inside of me that loves to play the game of basketball, getting the opportunity to on the highest level, and I'm just trying to do my best job at it. Those guys, their names, Magic Johnson is a great player, I'm not even close to that. I've got to win a lot of championships to get there. I'm just a kid in a candy store right now trying to have one. We're one of the best teams in the NBA and I'm getting a chance to show my ability and my talent.

Can you talk about the White Hot experience and what this has been like from a player's perspective to be on that home court?
It's been great. Our fans do a great job. From when I came in my rookie year, not seeing them seats have nobody in them until now before the game starts is truly amazing. They did it great for us. When the Pistons made the run in both Game 3 and Game 4, our crowd was really there to help us. I think they understand how important they are to us, and hopefully we come back and have what they all want, and that's a chance to go to the finals in the next game.

Talk about how important the supporting staff was tonight, the Big U doing his thing, and Posey doing his thing, G.P. hitting big shots. Talk about how important they were tonight and how important they'll be on Wednesday.
They've been important every game. Udonis was really aggressive tonight, finally hit some shots to get some shots down the last two games, I think he's shooting about 50 percent the last two games after struggling. They've been big for us. Gary hitting a timely three that we needed. That's what it's all about. It's team ball. You can't win it with one or two or three guys, you've got to win it with eight or nine guys at this time of year. We understand that. That's the way this team is put together, to have the depth to be able to play these games. I'm proud of my guys, but I know they understand that we've still got to finish this series up.

You're a young guy, you'll have what I'm sure you hope to be a good career ahead of you. You have teammates like Zo, Gary Payton, even Shaq that are sort of entering the twilight of their career, and there's this goal to win a championship. Can you sense an overall sense of urgency with the squad?
No question. Like I said before, the guys that you named, Alonzo wears it on his face. He wants to win the championship, there's no question about it. That's the reason he plays this game. Of course Shaq, man, he wants to continue to define his greatness, and we just want to be a part of it. We're going to do everything in our power not to have that feeling of non completeness that we had last year. We're on the right page, but we've still got a lot of basketball left. It's fun with this group of guys because everybody is on the same page and we all want it for each other, so that's a good thing.

The third quarter where you're trying to pull it back and hit the knock down shots at the line, come in the third quarter and explode; did everything come together exactly how you wanted it to?
Well, we just knew that riding the momentum that we had just coming off of Game 3, we wanted to carry that over and just start the game off strong. That was extremely important for us, to try to focus on starting off the game strong because I think just overall, just looking at our performances in the past, when we started a game off strong, then usually bringing that type of energy is carried on throughout the whole game, unlike Game 2 when they jumped right on us and we were playing catch up for the most part.

But everybody came in and did their jobs. D Wade and Shaq were spectacular again for us, and when they're playing that way, it's tough to beat us, especially when everybody else is playing their roles and doing what they have to do in order for us to be successful.

You just mentioned at the start of Game 2 aside, you guys have been able to weather all the spurts. What's been the key to that?
First of all, it started with the tongue lashing that we got when we came back here. Standing in this room, some of the things that coach said to us was basically a reality check. We need to be a more consistent team. We have the capabilities of doing it, but we haven't won anything yet, and sometimes we get to the point where we just settle. We just settle for where we are, yeah, okay, we went up one, so now it's time to relax. We did our job, we were supposed to go up there and just get one.

No, that can't be our mentality. We haven't won anything yet, and it's important for us to continue to try to get more and take more, take as much as we can until we're hoisting up that championship trophy. That's our main goal when we started this season, and that has been our focus in the decisions that he made before the season even started. The focus was this time of the year and putting ourselves in position to win a championship. He doesn't want to see that opportunity slip away, so he told us some things that was pretty much a wake up call for us, and we responded. We responded from there, and like I said, everybody collectively is doing their job. D Wade and Shaq, obviously they're playing spectacular for us, but it's the role playing, the guys coming in and doing their jobs that continues to keep the momentum going for us.

You talked about a clock ticking as soon as a player steps on the court. Is there a sense of urgency with where you're at in your career wanting to win the championship?
To tell you the truth, it's not just from my perspective. There should be a sense of urgency from all these guys, even Shaq, because he knows that he was brought here for one reason, and that's to bring the championship to this franchise. Unlike Shaq, everybody else, we don't have any right to even speak about how it feels to win a championship at all because we haven't been there.

Based on our overall approach we're going to turn our hunger toward accomplishing that goal. I think right now our approach has been pretty solid, and we're getting to that level of consistency that we need going into Game 5. This is going to be a very tough game because that team over there has a lot of pride, and I know that it's going to be a dogfight because the last thing they want to do is get closed out on their home court. I expect this to be a very, very tough game for us, and we've got to stay focused and do our jobs on both ends of the court.

Being a veteran club, is anything Pat says motivation wise necessary, or are you guys just motivated by being one win away from the finals?
You know what, yeah, we are veterans, and we know how much it means to be in this position because you have to take advantage of this moment because there's no guarantee that you'll be here again next year. So you need someone like a Pat Riley who has coached the most playoff games in the history of this game, a man that has the experience that he has to give us that constructive criticism and remind us in his own little way how important it is to not be complacent in a situation like this because he's been there; he's been there as a player, he's been there as a coach, he's been there, he's seen it all. Just for him to be there and constantly remind us, this is what we need to do and to keep us on our toes, I think it's needed, regardless of the experience that we have, because we're human. It's human to exhale and relax sometimes, and we've just got to be reminded of the position that we're in and the opportunity that we have in front of us sometimes.

Like I said, he does it in his own subtle, constructive way, but we respond to it because we respect him.

On the game:

Pat is such a great motivator. What does it mean to you as a player to be able to play under him?
Pat Riley has a lot of years of experience, championship rings, and every game he knows ways to motivate us, and he's a guy that keeps things in black and white. He's going to keep an eye on us and he's going to tell you how you're playing. He's not going to yell at you, but he's going to tell you how things are. That's one of the great things about it. But he is a terrific motivator. Sometimes you leave the locker room and you run into a brick wall, you feel like you can run through a brick wall, and that's one of the great things about it, he's a great motivator.

Pat is going to remind you not to get too high about this win, if he hasn't already. It's easier said than done; how do you do that?
Well, I think we're a veteran group. I think we have to understand how we got up 3 1. You've got to understand who we're playing. That team is not going to back down. They're going to come out fighting. They're going to have a lot of confidence. We've got to come out with the same effort that we did tonight. I think we play better when we have a jump on them a little bit early in the game and establish Shaq inside and just continue doing what we've been doing. They're the team right now that needs to make the adjustments, so we have to make sure that we're ready for the adjustments that they're going to make.

You only had two points the first couple of games, now you got ten. What's been the difference the last couple games?
Just trying to be more aggressive. First time I shot for a lot of jump shots and nothing really went in. You try to get a rhythm and just shoot a jumper. I tried to be more aggressive every game, and also tonight I got to the free throw line.

What does that do to the rest of the team when Dwyane is on a roll like that, energize everybody else?
Yeah, he's our guy. We understand that. We're going to go to him and Shaq early. It makes our job a lot easier as far as making shots that we don't get so much attention offensively.

What is it going to take for you guys to go up to Auburn Hills and close out?
Everything we got. We understand what type of situation we're going into. They're a veteran team, obviously returning champions. We're going to come out fighting, going to be a full court fight, and we've got to understand that.

Did any of your teammates talk to you after the first couple of games, keep your head up, give you advice, anything like that?
Yeah, nobody got down on me. We've all been through ups and downs this season. They get behind me 100 percent, told me, "keep fighting." You've got to keep making shots, I tried to defend, keep rebounding and make myself as useful as possible.

I know you guys were confident in winning the series, but did you think that you would be in this position after four games, up 3 1?
We never really looked forward to being up 3 1 in this position. We just thought we'd take it one game at a time. Every game go out there and give maximum effort and just leave everything out on the court and see where we go from there. We've done that, and we've got the series 3 1 right now.

Can you also talk about what Posey did for you guys, especially his defense on Prince and a couple big threes?
He's been our top perimeter defender all season. From holding down Vince, a little bit, and we pride ourselves on team defense. When we've got a guy on the other team who's a great scorer, we try to put five guys on that guy. When we've got Sheed, we try to make Tayshaun drive right instead of left. We try to play defense, we don't just leave one guy out there by himself.