Pat Riley
Pat Riley
Patrick James "Pat" Rileyis an American professional basketball executive, and a former coach and player in the National Basketball Association. He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995 and head coach in two separate tenures. Widely regarded as one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time, Riley has served as the head coach of five championship teams, four with the Los Angeles Lakers and one with the Heat...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth20 March 1945
CityRome, NY
CountryUnited States of America
Strange things happen when you think things are at their worst. I thought Gary (Payton) did a great job of running the offense and making some big plays in the fourth quarter. James Posey had timely shots and two big offensive tip-outs. We had other players step up when we had to.
As (the game) got worse, we started getting stronger and stronger and Antoine made big plays for us, big shots for us. That's what he's capable of doing. He's very explosive.
He plays the game that we need him to play. He is just so committed defensively and offensively on missed shots and loose balls.
I thought we played the best quarter of the series, quite frankly. We kept it very simple and the ball moved to open shooters and we made the shots that we had to make.
Anybody who's got the kind of energy to try to hoist up (nearly) 70 shots is going to score a lot of points. It's remarkable, the execution and the efficiency, but we've got a lot of guys in this league, if they took 70 shots, they'd score a lot of points.
It was a barn burner, two teams that just shot the ball well. Both teams were very aggressive.
This is to see whether the two years, all the drill work and all the hard work have manifested itself into something positive for him. It should be something he should be eager to do.
I think they have great respect for New Jersey. They are a very effective team right now and they're developing a lot of confidence.
It's just good to get this win and get ready for Indiana and the next six or seven games that are coming our way.
Frustration is part of this game. You have to press on. That's it. You can't let that get to you. Welcome to the NBA playoffs.
I think I read a headline today, 'Great players versus a great team', and I hope we do have great players on the way to becoming a great team. I think a win like this today begins to develop a sense of confidence.
His conditioning is the thing. Coming right in to the playoffs and expecting him to play well is unrealistic.
He's a great player, there's no doubt about that.
He was absolutely great. He did things I haven't seen him do for a couple of years. He's got a lot of energy and he's taking two or three people to the rim. He's picking people apart.