Pat Riley Best Quotations

Shaq is in shape. He's back in 26 games. We've been together 46 games. Enough talk about learning each other and coming together. It's time to put up and play, and play against the best teams in the league, especially at home.

I would say at the end of the games if you went back and charted Jason Williams making shots in the last four minutes he's one of the best at making open shots. So you've got to have him on the court. While everybody says you've got take him off the court because it's a defensive thing, what do I do at the other end?

If we had brought back the exact same group we had last year, I think the results would be good, but we needed more talent, ... We built the team around Shaquille that's a now team. We want to get it done as quick as we can. This is by far the best team that I've been around since the ones that I coached in Los Angeles.

He might get 100. If you can get 81 . . . absolutely. He has the mentality to do that and conditioning. He's one of the best conditioned athletes in the world.

We traded a lot, but we got back three quality players. Antoine Walker is one of the very best multi-faceted, versatile players in this game. ... He is able to handle the ball, pass it, make plays, shoot 3's and rebound the ball. There isn't anyone in this league better at doing that.

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.

I thought we played some of the best basketball that we've played for two and a half quarters. Then we got really sloppy with turnovers. We lost the energy that we had but we closed it out.

We just couldn't stop Vince. We put two or three different guys on him. We tried to guard him the best we could. But Vince Carter is a great player. He's a runner and when he elevates, he can get above big guys.

Those two best teams probably should be in this game. But that's not the way it is.

We wanted Damon. We felt this was the best place for him. What they wanted, we were unwilling to do. We traded for a starting point guard. How much are you willing to pay a backup?

After a real slow start, we played very well offensively. When your best player goes 4-for-14 and you still win, then you've got to feel good about it.

It's almost a crossroads for me right now, to find the competitive warriors and the competitiveness of those guys will transcend the talent and reputation. I'm going to try to find the guys who are going to try to play the hardest and best in support of our two great players.

The voters will put in the best players, and the coaches will take care of the rest.

They were on fire tonight. This is one of the best shooting teams in the league. Tonight, they showed it.