Pat Riley Players Quotations

I also believe Odom would complement Eddie Jones and Brian Grant, our two veteran leaders. As I have said before, we are committed to winning and will do whatever it takes to give our fans talented players and a great team.

What I want are players who are versatile and do a lot of things,

We played at a real high level again. Tremendous amount of energy, spirit and ball movement, but we didn't finish. That disturbs me and it should disturb our players after working so hard and playing so well.

If we had come back with the same team as last year, it would have been a disaster. We didn't have the firepower to sustain what we needed in this conference. Last year was a honeymoon year. A couple players had career years. I didn't believe we had the core of players like the core we have now. We have a lot more versatility now.

But the players are so instinctive, they always put a hand on these guys.

Our depth today stepped up. Different guys have to play different roles because three key players are out. We are starting to feel more comfortable.

The bigger the moment, both of them stepped up even bigger. Sometimes, it's absolutely beyond description. I haven't seen players do that in a long, long time.

It's an ongoing battle. It's becoming more and more and more difficult to do it. There's so much talent, so much ball-handling ability. There's so many things that officials allow perimeter players to get away with that it's difficult to guard the ball.

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.

This is a multibillion-dollar business.... Our players have to recognize that they are part of this corporate world and there's a decorum that has to be upheld while they are at work.

People got a view of absolute greatness. It's absolutely beyond description. I haven't seen players do that in a long time.

We feel like with this trade 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.

That's a big mistake on his part right now. He's too young to be saying that. It's just indicative of the young players today.

I haven't seen players do that in a long, long time.

The only reason there's a rivalry is because the media has created two icons, very young icons. I don't think there's any kind of rivalry yet. Rivalries are born out of hate. And I don't think players today in this league have a dislike for each other anymore. There's just too much backslapping and hugging and all that stuff.

All year long we do 15 players, and they should do 15 in the playoffs. I don't understand the thinking at all behind it. We're the ones that have sort of dedicated ourselves in investing the money in three extra players and having them there, and we should be rewarded for that.

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 think we're beginning to learn more about individual performances by perimeter players who have the ability to do what he does... We have to do something different at times to take the ball out of his hands, force him into areas it's not as easy for him to get done what he gets done.

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.