Scott Skiles Quotations

We . . . stopped running back on defense.

We're in an enviable position. We have good young players, (high) draft picks and money to spend. Yet we're in last place in our division, so it's logical that people would call John and gauge if we're jittery and feel a need to make a big move. We happen to value our young players, and we're not gonna do anything silly.

We started a different lineup and played with the same amount of energy, so it's difficult to tell (the difference). We played better tonight, but I don't want to put it on that necessarily.

There is no question we have been fouling too much. We have silly fouls, but then I see the other team fouling like that and not being called. (Anthony) shot 21 free throws. He almost doubled our whole team.

We'd like to come out and win the first quarter. Both games, they've given us a body blow right off the jump and we just haven't been ready enough.

We responded particularly well tonight. When things didn't go our way, we didn't go into one of our tremendously long droughts and hang our heads and look defeated. We did the reverse. We picked it up on defense and blocked some shots and got out in the open floor.

We know what we're facing now. We're going down there, and it's going to be some sort of onslaught early in the game. We'll do our best to try and weather it.

We know we're not a title-contending team right now, but in the history of teams winning titles they tend to take their lumps for a little while before they finally get there.

We know we're in a battle right now. This is obviously a huge week. It's possible there could be a little more clarity by this time next week. This is the biggest week of our season right here.

We have to find other ways to use Tyson. The main thing is he has to find ways to stay on the floor by not fouling. We've got to get him the ball and ... let him do some different things.

We were too fast on offense, our spacing was poor and we missed some shots.

We have played better at the end of the games. We have tended to make some pretty good plays on both ends of the floor when the game is on the line.

We have a play that we run there where we to try to get Ben on a run around but it didn't develop. Snow (was) pretty much covering it real good there and we couldn't get off of him to get Ben free.

We need to play 40-plus minutes of really good basketball. The last couple games, we've got 30-plus, but that's not good enough at this level to win the game.

When the time came to make plays, they made a flurry. That coupled with some very poor decisions that we made (and) in a matter of minutes the game was gone.

We want to make sure we do not fall too far behind. We've dug ourselves a hole and it is pretty simple: We have to dig ourselves out or we do not make it. At some point we are going to have to win some games in a row.

We're giving ourselves a chance now, and that's all I can ask of these guys.

Luther's been great. I liked watching him in college. I think he's a great all-around player. My feeling is, wherever his career is going, he's probably going to continue to get minutes. He looks like a good pro guard to me.

Luke's an interesting player. He's got size, good hands, a nice touch. We can use size right now.

Shaq is on of those guys who if and when he really wants to get something done out there, there isn't a whole lot you can do.

Mike will get another chance now. He just needs to play better; the minutes he's got he hasn't taken advantage of. It would be nice for him -- and it would be nice for us -- if he could perform at a high level.

Maybe we could have taken more fouls. He just powered us.

Occasionally, I may say something to see if I can get a response. Certainly, they responded, not that I want to take any credit for a comment like that. Each time they could have faded away, they found a way to come back and get after it again.

My guys almost every night battle really hard. They've had a lot of things go against them in late game situations and we haven't been able to seize the moment. Lately, we've been able to do that and our guys appear to growing up as a team.

I was really proud of the guys. We played really hard. We were active. And we played really solid defense, and we got out with a win.

If we go down 3-1 and go to their building, then the odds become long again. We need to win the next game to really make it a series.

If they continue that trend that they apparently never foul, that will go a long way toward them advancing (in the playoffs).

I don't how long, but I imagine for a few games, anyway.

I'd like to think the players are better. Yeah.

But we've all made spur-of-the-moment decisions that maybe we look back on and wish we hadn't made.

But the guys did what they do and fought back.

Fouling him and putting him on the line makes him theoretically shoot less field goals and puts him on the line, but it also puts their team in the penalty earlier every quarter. And then other guys are going to the line. ... So if we're just fouling Shaq sort of indiscriminately, it can be a long night.

(Friday) We could tell right from the beginning, we weren't all there. Tonight, we could tell we were all there. We got really active. We put pressure on them. We were really in tune with our game plan.

I don't want to be changing the lineup all the time. In order to do that, we have to have a bunch of guys be consistent in their roles. We haven't gotten to that point yet.

For whatever reason, we meant business when the ball went up tonight. That's the team I see in practice. It was good to see them take it into the game.

For whatever reason, we are not fighting back when other teams give us a blow.

He has been very good. We were a little concerned putting him back on the bench. The first couple of games off the bench he did not play very well and we were concerned. Since then, he has been fantastic.

He is obviously a good shooter and moved down the floor well and scored in the post. I like the way he has played.

He got hit pretty good. For Chris not to be able to play -- he's a tough guy -- that means he's hurt.

We try to keep it reasonable. It's not necessarily that we don't trust our guys. We don't trust other people. We want to keep our guys out of situations where something (negative) can happen. I sort of look at it that, if you want to come to South Beach and have some fun, you have the money to do it in the summertime. Now is not the time for that.

We took them down to the end. We had our opportunities. We just weren't able to make the big plays when they were necessary.

We're not worried about where we are. We were 10 games under .500 in March and that would be quite a comeback if we win on Wednesday (and finish 41-41).

We've got to put together a string at some time. It doesn't mean we have to put together seven in a row or anything like that. At some point, we have to win five of six and maybe add another four out of five in there.

We've dug ourselves a decent hole here and we're going to have to dig ourselves out. This is a game, if you're going to get serious about what you're going to do this season, (that) you've got to lay it all on the line there in the third quarter when we have a chance to win. We just looked out of it most of the night.

He's almost an inch taller. Maybe by next year he'll be a 7-footer.

He's got to get in better shape. That's the first thing. He's got to get in good enough shape to where he can at least attempt to be a big-minute player. He's got some nice natural post-up moves, but he has a ways to go. But he does a lot of good things. He's a very, very skilled player.

His personality has definitely come out this year, there's no doubt about it. He's much more comfortable around the guys. With the coaches, we could always have a basketball conversation with him last year because he understood the basketball terminology. But just as far as other conversations, it wasn't terribly difficult but it's much more easy now.

His speed has bothered us. He's made his open shots. We've given him too many free throws.

He's bothered us in all areas. His speed has bothered us, he's made his open shots and we've given him too many free throws. He's always been one of the faster point guards. We've had Ben on him, and we've had trouble dealing with that speed.

Hopefully, this is something he can put behind him and it won't be a factor the rest of the season.

Well, you know, I know a lot of times people think it's easy to just get the ball to a guy when the other teams knows exactly where it's going. Sometimes it's not that easy. Our guys are still learning. They're getting better at recognizing a hot hand and getting him the ball, but we're clearly not a finished product. But we had a decent look at a three-pointer with 18 seconds to go. We had our chances.

We looked panicked right from the jump ball. That's the only word that I can come up with.

We lost Shawn too many times tonight. I know from experience that he's a very slippery player. If you relax, he'll slide behind you.

We lost Shawn too many times tonight. I know from experience, he's a very slippery player. If you relax, he slides behind you. He's got a knack of finding cracks in there. We lost him several times, and that was one critical play where we couldn't afford to lose him and we did.

He was on. When he's on like that, he can shoot over people. His threes were dialed in. It was a phenomenal display.

He was in a lot of pain when he left the building.

He can pretty much forget almost everything from one second to the next. I don't know if he did or not because he certainly knew. I hope he didn't.

This was a game we felt like we needed to win. It's getting to the point where we're making the same mistakes over and over again.

This was a game that had a little bit of everything. I thought we showed a lot of fight and we made plays when we had to. They also made plays. Fortunately we had the ball for the last shot.

There are talented players over there, but from what I read, (McMillan) is still dealing with players showing up late. Those are things that are very difficult to deal with. I'm an outsider, but I think he has done a good job of it.

Kirk was outstanding tonight pretty much from beginning to end. Defensively he was as good as he always is and he played with a nice tempo. He didn't really force anything, ran the offense well, penetrated and made a lot of good decision.

Just to run down and double-team Shaq all over the place, it normally doesn't pay off.

It appears what is happening to us when we finally do decide to really get after it for two or three possessions (is) we don't have the energy to go get the ball. That's distressing for sure.

I thought we were active on both ends. Our defense is coming around. We are going on a good month now with solid defense. A lot of times in critical moments we have not been able to get stops. That activity carried over to the offensive end. We did a good job of trying to penetrate, get in the paint, and make plays for each other.

I thought we were active on both ends.

I thought what we did particularly well tonight was that when calls did not go our way we did not go into one of our tremendously long droughts. We did not hang our heads and look defeated. We did the reverse and picked it up.

I thought we were very active (defensively) and it won the game for us tonight.

I think that, if maybe something so bizarre ever happens one time, (the NBA) will take a look at (the seeding system). That's probably what it's going to take. Some crazy thing.

I thought we played hard tonight. We kind of had a pop to our step most of the game. We made too many mistakes and missed too many shots.

I thought we got a little tired after playing sensational defense for three quarters. Then Johnson started getting hot and they got close.

I thought we looked panicked right from the jump ball. The way that we attacked them in Philadelphia, and in practice yesterday and then the shoot-around, we just went away from those things.

I thought the guys rallied. We came out in the third quarter with a lot more intensity.

I thought the way that game unfolded made that a very good win. We knew we'd have a battle in the second half. We battled and made a lot of big plays on both ends. When it got really tight, we raised our level of play.

I thought overall we played better tonight. We have a lot of energy. We did a better than average job of following the game plan. We could have had the game in regulation. We just weren't able to get it.

I thought overall it was one of Kirk's better games.

I went from being perceived as one of the best young coaches in the league to this negative perception in a span of about 30 games, ... It?s really bizarre.

Jason Williams, sort of in a quiet manner, hurt us.

Jason Kidd is always capable of something like that on a given night, (Steve) Nash, too. But the opponent had so much to do with that night, that it's hard to envision.

Our guys always come back. But it was the second game in a row we weren't ready to play when the ball went up. We're still learning on the fly. We don't have guys with 30, 40, 60 games of playoff experience.

Our focus early in this game was unacceptable for a game this big. Not all across the board, but a couple of our starters just weren't ready tonight.

Our ball movement came to a screeching halt. Ben got hot for us early, and after that our ball movement just kind of stopped.

Paul pretty much has his way with us the whole night. There are certain rookies who come into this league and are ready to play and he is definitely one of them.

Paul pretty much had his way with us the whole night.

Our movement around the floor was not as sharp as it has been. We did a lot of stumbling around out there tonight.

Our defense was good again tonight and we needed it. We sort of went cold in the second half. We went 12-for-42 in the second half. To win a game when you only make 12 field goals in the second half, obviously our defense was good.

Some guys play hard, some guys play harder. He's a hard-playing guy. I have never seen him do anything that was out of hand, over the top. In a league where a lot of players feel a degree of entitlement, a guy like him that doesn't feel that can stand out.

My opinion has always been that whoever the top guys are in the rankings -- provided they have the attempts -- should go. I had that opinion the whole time I played, and my opinion didn't mean anything. They've got to get some guys they think are sexy.

Look, anytime you have a guy with that size that you can throw the ball to and he can get scores around the basket, you're going to miss that aspect of it. There are things that we don't miss, but that goes with every player.

I think he is the most-improved player (in the NBA). I also thought he should have been all-rookie (NBA selection) and things like that. But people look at him as already a pro player. I understand that because he has played professionally for a long time. I know everybody respects him around the league, they just tend to look at him as a long-term veteran, or whatever, even though he's in his second year.

I suppose that's a good question. I don't know. Would there be a conflict of interest there because he was in Washington? I really haven't given that a whole lot of thought.

I thought it was a great effort. Tyson was a big lift. I thought maybe that he had his best game of the year.

I thought it was a great effort. Tyson (Chandler) was a big lift. I thought he had his best game of the year. Our game was proactive and most importantly, we got a lot of rebounds and second chance opportunities.

I thought he showed some flashes of what stuff he could do. He scored around the basket and showed a nice touch on a perimeter shot. I was happy to be able to give him as many minutes.

Malik has had some good minutes lately. He's shooting 49 percent. He doesn't have a lot of attempts, but he's been able to knock down the perimeter shot, hold his position and he's had some good minutes.

I would never commit ahead of time that he wasn't going to play. I would hate to tell somebody they're not going to play or their minutes would be limited, then all of a sudden 6 minutes into the game put him out there. That wouldn't be fair. I think it's better that he stayed ready, but unfortunately he didn't get in.

Most games, when you have more field goals than your opponent, you win in our league. For us, most times, we haven't won. We just juggle players because of foul trouble too much, and we've had a hard time to stop it.

We haven't yet in either game played the kind of defense that we've played the whole year to get a gauge on how we can play against (Miami).

We just couldn't stop him in key moments.

We feel fortunate that Shaq played 24 minutes.

Well, I normally err on the side of telling the truth, so I'm going to tell it. I'm really embarrassed by what happened out there. I thought we came out in the second half, we were pretty much as soft as I've seen. We played with very little heart, very little aggressiveness.