SONICS COACH NATE MCMILLAN:

On the game:
Just a great effort by our team tonight. We had to beat a very good team tonight. I think that is the team we will see come out of the Eastern Conference. Shaquille (O’Neal), Dwyane (Wade), Eddie (Jones) and Udonis (Haslem) are a tough group. I think tonight we played solid basketball. Our big guys did an outstanding job of making Shaq work and take tough shots. Ray (Allen) was unbelievable in the second half. Rashard (Lewis) did a number of things for us tonight. He had a double-double tonight and helped control the boards which was a key.

On defending Wade:
We did a really good job on just making him work to get his touches. We also made him take tough shots. We wanted to keep him out of the paint. He does a really good job of splitting a defense and getting to the basket. He still took 11 free throws. In the second half he got more aggressive. I think our guys did a really good job of denying him touches in the first half.

GUARD RAY ALLEN:

On the game:
It was a great night for all of us, a fun game to be a part of.

On Wade's performance:
Dwyane Wade put a lot of pressure on our defense. He’s a playmaker for their team, as I am for us.

On winning a sixth straight road game:
It’s that we don’t look at [the game] as if we’re on the road. Out on the road we try to duplicate what we have at home. Not necessarily the atmosphere, but the mindset. We try to prepare the same way we would at home, do all the same things, get to the arena at the same time. If we can do that, then when we step on the court we don’t really get taken out of your rhythm.

On the Sonics:
When it comes down to it, we’re a good team. I’m proud to be a teammate of each and every one of these guys.

FORWARD DANNY FORTSON:

On the game:
I’m proud of all these guys. We all stuck together, and we played hard. It’s a good win for us. Probably one of the best wins this season.

On the magnitude of the win:
I would compare this win to the one we had against San Antonio. It was, basically, the same kind of game.

MIAMI COACH STAN VAN GUNDY:

On the game:
I thought it was, obviously, a very good basketball game. Two good teams played. I thought we had our chances down the stretch. We got good looks, we executed well and the ball just didn’t go in. It’s gone in for us a lot of times; tonight it did not, and the game goes the other way. I thought we made some good plays. Dwyane had a great block on Danny Fortson. We executed the last play with 1.6 (seconds) left very well. We talked about the possibility, if the guy’s right on us, to shot-fake because they (the Sonics) are so intent on stopping the three (point shot). Eddie got that. We did a lot of good things down the stretch, but we just didn’t get the ball in the basket tonight. It was a tough way to see it end.

On Allen:
Ray Allen was absolutely fabulous tonight. We could have survived that.

On Fortson:
Danny was the difference tonight. We couldn’t survive with him coming off the bench and getting 15 points and 10 rebounds.

On rebounding:
I tried to say to our guys that one of the huge keys to the game would be rebounding. Everyone looks at them as perimeter, perimeter, perimeter, but you can’t give them second chances. They outrebounded us.

On the last play:
Dwyane drove the ball and got down into the paint. He drove, they (Sonics) came and helped, and he passed to our best three-point shooter. When that ball was in the air, I thought we had the game won.

On Wade's play:
He struggled mightily, defensively, early in the game. Chasing Ray Allen around is a tough thing to do and I don’t think he did a real good job. We made that change later. Offensively, Dwyane will play his game regardless. He did really well the second half.

On the Heat's defense:
The first half I thought the defense was absolutely horrible, particularly the first quarter. I thought there were a couple of times when we should have been up and into Ray Allen. I thought most of the time when he got shots off of pick-and-rolls it was due to a breakdown of our ‘bigs’, not our guards. There was a few times where we gave him too much airspace. He did get a couple of shots when were up in his face, and you have to give him a lot of credit.

On the end of Miami's winning streak:
Obviously the win streak was great. I didn’t figure we were going to win 50 more in a row. It’s disappointing to lose the way we did. I thought we executed well down the stretch, we just didn’t get the ball in the basket. The only really negative thing in the game was our rebounding. We got absolutely worked on the glass. Otherwise I thought we played hard and we played well. They were just a little bit better than we were.

FORWARD EDDIE JONES:

On his three free-throw attempts:
I missed a foul shot. That is the bottom line. I have been in that position many times. The fans calling my name really felt great. That got me really into the game. It would have been better if it went in, but it didn’t, so you just need to keep moving on. I was trying to set the last free throw off at a good angle. I was hoping to have a shot at putting it back in myself. Unfortunately, it did not come off like I was hoping. I knew that Udonis was going to go hard for the rebound, so I tried to set it up so we could have a chance for a put back.

On the game:
I thought we did a great job of executing plays down the stretch. Unfortunately, I just missed a foul shot and screwed it up. I thought my final three point shot was going in. It rolled in and out.

We need to prepare and make it tougher for them. We play them next week and need to make sure we do a better job against them. We knew that we would not go the whole rest of the season without another loss, so you need to recognize that you had a good run and start again trying to build up another one.

CENTER SHAQUILLE O'NEAL:

On the game:
It was a hard-fought game. We had a couple of lapses. They outrebounded us, they got of second shots and shot the ball well. Teams are going to have to shoot like that in order to come in this building and win. It was a well fought game and we just let one get away.

On Sunday's rematch in Seattle:
We’re just going to go in and get a win in a tough place.

On the end of the Heat's winning streak:
I’ll take 14 out of 15 any day of the week, any week of the month, and month of the year, any year of the century. I don’t know what comes after century.

On the Sonics:
You live by the jumper and die by the jumper. In order to beat us, you have to shoot the ball well like that. Ray Allen is the best guard in the West and he really shot the ball well tonight.

On Jones' free throws:
He almost hit the three to tie the game. It’s not his fault. We win as a team and we lose as a team.

FORWARD UDONIS HASLEM:

On the game:
They are a great team and they shot really well tonight. There were a lot of long rebounds in this game. They have been playing together for a long time. When Ray Allen takes a long shot, they know it is going up and they position themselves for those long rebounds. You hate to lose any game, but we had a long run, and now we need to go back and put another one together.

GUARD DWYANE WADE:

On the game:
We didn’t play our best game, but we still had a chance at the end. I think the thing that stings is that we lost at home. This is a good team and we get another crack at them in seven days.

2004-05 Postgame Quotes/Notes Archive