HEAT Head Coach Stan Van Gundy

On the game:
“We are not going to talk about Indiana tonight. I am going to enjoy this for at least three or four hours. The energy we came out with was incredible. You could not question whether our guys were afraid or not. I am really proud of them because I thought there was a lot of garbage written the last few days. I thought that there was a lot of pressure put on our guys that wasn’t really fair. We now have a whole locker room full of guys that have won a lot more Game 7’s then them (New Orleans). I am happy now because that monkey is off their back and now they can just play basketball and all the garbage is out the window.”

On Caron Butler:
“Caron was absolutely tremendous. We have been telling him all the time that it does not matter what happened earlier in the year. Now everybody is going to talk about his playoff series and game 7. All the heat he took earlier is off.”

On the meaning of this win:
“Just being in the playoff race was a huge step. But, then they succeeded in the big games. To win and to understand how hard you have to work was a tremendous growth for our team. I think it is important that they got the monkey of their backs’ early. Nobody can look at this team and say that there is any fear in them, or any quit in them, or any choke in them.”

HEAT Guard Eddie Jones

On the game:
“They [New Orleans Hornets] came out with a great deal of energy. We came out with the type of energy we need to have to win. Hopefully, we can have that same type of energy in the next round. We went out knowing what we had to do tonight. We are not relieved. We still have a lot of work to do. We have to go to Indiana and that is the next obstacle in our way. We feel great about this win. I am happy that we came out and played extremely well. I knew we were going to come out and I knew it was going to happen for us tonight. It was key for us to get off to a good start. The last three games we did not get off to a good start. Tonight, we were able to do so. This place was rocking. The fans are so into the game. They really lift us up. I am just ecstatic. I am so happy to be sitting here saying that we won this series. After four years, it becomes a really humbling experience. To come from where we have been, it is really humbling. I feel really blessed to be here, especially after the way the season began for us.”

On the next round series with the Indiana Pacers:
“Indiana is a tough team. It is going to take everything we have got to go in there and win, just like in this series. This will be a huge challenge. They are a big athletic team. They have so many different weapons that it will be a really tough series for us.”

HEAT Center Brian Grant

On the game:
“My expectations were definitely met, right from tonight’s tip-off. That was a physical game. Both teams were focused. We really wanted to win this game. When Eddie [Jones] and I came to this team, there were a lot of expectations. Just like anything, you need to stick with it. You need to be professional and go out and work each day. Eventually, we knew it would pay off. We have a bright future in front of us. This is my favorite team I have ever played for. When I was in Portland, I knew we were supposed to win a championship. We were supposed to win with that group of guys. This year, the expectations were not that high. We started 0-7 and everyone was writing us off. People were telling us it was going to be the worst year ever. We just continued to stick together. The togetherness of this team is what has made the difference this year. We did not give up on each other. We had to build, and fight and grit it out all throughout the year. This team has a lot of resolve. Finally, we were able to turn things around. It has just made this the most enjoyable season. It has really been sweet. I am just proud of every one of my teammates. All year we had to fight to get respect. Tonight, it was no different. Unfortunately, Baron Davis went out with an injury. Shammond Williams came in and did a great job. They made a push, but we were able to keep them back. We are advancing and that is all that is important to us. We have a lot of respect for them.”

On the play of Steve Smith:
“I asked Steve [Smith] what he took before the game. I told him that I wanted him to give me some. He was out there with fresh legs and was running around like the Steve Smith from the Miami years.”

HEAT Forward Udonis Haslem

On the game:
“It was important for us to start off and run. We knew that if we started to run, we had a better chance of winning. Once it started working for us, we had more and more confidence that we would win the game.”

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

On the lead:
“We had big stops when needed and we played until the very end. We came out and used our youth to get a big lead and it carried us the rest of the way. Everyone wanted to attack.”

On the crowd:
“The energy was great for 48 minutes. Thank the fans, we really fed off of that tonight.”

On the Indiana Pacers:
“We can play with any team in the East. We are going to go up there and take it to them.”

HEAT Forward Lamar Odom

On the physical nature of the game:
“My teammates have my back. We are a team. I’ve been in park tournaments where one neighborhood was playing against the next. People almost came to blows and you have to run out of the park, so I don’t pay any attention to what anyone says.”

On Coach Van Gundy’s comments about his performance:
“It’s good to hear coach talk like that because we win together and we lose together.”

On the trash talking:
“Enough said. All of the talking is done now.”

On the HEAT’s preparation:
“We came out real aggressive. We watched a lot of tape. We realized that a lot of people were talking about how they beat us up down there and that we didn’t respond well. We came out running. It was like a race track out there tonight.”

Hornets Head Coach Tim Floyd

On the injury to Baron Davis and on the game:
“Well, we were down at the time of his injury. It would be convenient and easy to blame this loss on his injury. We’re not going to take away from what Miami did to us. This was an incredible atmosphere tonight. Their fans have gotten behind this team. They have energized these young guys and they have played at a higher level in terms of their attack. 25 of their first 41 points were either out of transition off a missed shot or a turnover. They just got us on our heels early with their attack. Lamar (Odom) and Dwyane Wade put an incredible amount of pressure on us all series long with their penetration. Caron Butler made us really pay tonight. Stan (Van Gundy) has done a wonderful job with this team. This team is selfless, they have no agendas, they are playing to win, and they are playing like they are older.”

“Brian Grant did an amazing job in this series in the interior defense. He really really limited a lot of things for us. We tried to play through (Jamaal) Magloire a lot and we were unable to do that throughout this series.”

Hornets Guard Baron Davis

On his injury:
“If I could have played, I would have played.”

On the game:
“We played as hard as we possibly could. The HEAT had the tempo. They got the lead and controlled it down the stretch.”

“Too many turnovers and too few rebounds is how we lost. They killed us on the glass.”

On this series:
“It’s amazing. It was a hard fought battle. You can give them a lot of credit. They’re a dangerous team. If I was Indiana I’d be a little nervous. They’re young, talented and they play like they’ve got nothing to lose.”

Hornets Guard Darrell Armstrong

On the homecourt advantage during this series:
“I think homecourt advantage was good for them. It was also good for us. I think that when you look at it, we had two chances to win [in Miami] in Games One and Five. Homecourt advantage is homecourt advantage, but we did have a shot.”

“The HEAT got energy from their fans. They got energy from being at home.”

Hornets Center P.J. Brown

On the homecourt advantage during this series:
“The HEAT protected their homecourt. That’s what you play for during the season. You win games to put yourself in the best position at the end of the regular season. The HEAT put themselves in position to be on their homecourt, and they protected it. They deserve to move on.’

“Baron [Davis] is one of our main guys, and for us to be totally successful, he has to be on the floor. To our credit though, nobody gave up. Everybody played hard, but we just didn’t have enough time left on the clock. The HEAT did what they had to do. The earned it, and they deserve to move on.”

Hornets Guard David Wesley

On the game:
“I said that after Game 1 whoever walks out of this series would be a big bruise.”

On Game 7:
“We couldn’t get in any kind of rhythm. We couldn’t make any runs.” “I really thought we would find a way to win this game, even though we were on their floor. We thought we could win two in a row, but it just didn’t work out that way.”