Pat Riley Last Quotations

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?

Obviously we're concerned about everybody's health, based on what happened last year. We've still got 19 games to play. You can't walk around on egg shells, but we do have to be conscious of the maintenance of these guys.

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 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.

Last year we understood and found out exactly how lethal injuries at the wrong time can be, so I think we protected ourselves a little bit there. As a matter of fact, I think we protected ourselves big-time in that capacity if we lose a perimeter guy.

He's had a very consistent year, with the exception of the last couple of weeks, and I think he's getting worn down a little bit. He's got a little bit of an injury, so we're trying to work through that, but it is what it is, because he has to play now with Jason out.

History is history. But they've had our number for the last two or three years.

Our guys have to stop talking about being what they think they are and they've got to do it. I think we've done it a little bit over the last couple of weeks, but enough is enough now.

We don't want to go through what we went through last year. My whole thing is about maintenance right now, but not at the expense of complacency.

What people don't understand is, last year we had two great players, but you need more talent. You can never have enough talent.

The team itself was hung over from last night, and very disappointed by it.

(The players) didn't like last night. It was embarrassing. But that's what you deal with. Once you understand what happened, you've got to get on with making those improvements.

If you recall, the last time we shut him down, he had a good run of games. I think that's what we need to do in light of not having him at all.

It's difficult, but you deal with it. Family is part of your life. And so, I did what I had to do in New York. ... The last four days was about a family crisis. Now it's about Chicago, moving on and trying to get this job done here.

You have to leave the last two games behind us. We didn't like how we played up there. We didn't play very well. We didn't play well enough to win. Probably didn't deserve to win.

It's a good bounce-back game. We needed to get out of our system what happened the last couple of games.

They're flying. They're sixth in the league in scoring. That wasn't the way they were last year. And they don't let you stay close anymore. You used to be able to stay close to them occasionally but sometimes now they get out there and run. They're a different team this year, but their defense hasn't suffered.

I don't want to go through what we did last year with injuries. It's a matter of managing maintenance with complacency.