Pat Riley Quotations | Page 2

I was concerned a little bit. We know the NBA when you have a big win on national television. I've seen a half-dozen teams this year have those kinds of wins and the next day get beat by anybody. You just sort of let down. It's natural. We really tried to guard against that.

I was concerned about where we'd be, as I'm sure most coaches are coming back (from the All-Star break). We have one game in 10 days, and this was it. We started to play very well at the end of the (first) quarter.

I was always wondering, when the ball was going that way ... why (Crawford) wasn't looking down the floor. I'll leave that to you. ... It's just a very unfortunate thing for us right now.

I thought we did a great job at the end of finally closing down and forcing some misses. The Bulls are a drive-and-kick, pick-and-roll type of team. They can stay with you if they get open shots.

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?

I would recommend the NBA show it to all of its young players. These Texas Western guys paved the way, and a lot of these guys don't even know it.

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.

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.

If we're going to make any kind of move, this is the time to do it.

I think he is a week away from conditioning.