HEAT Head Coach Stan Van Gundy

On the game:
“I thought that we played well the first 15 minutes, and I thought that we played well in the second half. The nine minutes before the half were brutal. Thankfully, we got it back up in the second half and survived. Our defense got better, and the biggest thing was that we took care of the ball. We know that is going to be the key in this series. I think we will see even more pressing and trapping and spreading things out on the floor. We have to handle all of that better. If you handle the ball against them, you end up with easy shots at the basket. If we do not handle the ball well, we end up looking like we did in the first half. Overall we did not play bad, especially with all of the time off. They did not have as much time to prepare for this game. I am sure they will come in better prepared for Tuesday night. We will have to play a much better basketball game to come out with a win. I think that we have great confidence. We have not been a team that has turned the ball over. When we take care of the ball offensively, we are going to play pretty well. We shoot a pretty high percentage. We have two great players. We have other guys that can shoot the ball. Taking care of the ball is key. We had 12 turnovers in the first half. We were shooting over 50 percent, and it was still a two-point game. We have to take care of the basketball. This is a team that can create a lot of turnovers. Every pass they are going for the steal. Every time you rebound the ball, they are trying to strip you. Everything is for the steal. They are not trying to stay between you and the basket and make you take the tough shot. They just want turnovers.”

On Shaquille O’Neal:
“I thought that he played very well. He looked strong and balanced. I thought that he did a good job. We have to keep him out of foul trouble. We have to control the ball better.”

On Keyon Dooling:
“He had another really great game. He is playing at such a high level of confidence right now. It was nice not to have Damon Jones play extended minutes.”

On Dywane Wade:
“I thought that he was trying to get too deep against their zone. He is such a competetive guy that he has to get to the rim. Once he gets a chance to think about things, he realizes that he needs to take the shots that are givin to him.”

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

On the game:
“We had a lot of turnovers, we just had to get our rhythm back and we got it back in the second quarter. They are a team that goes after every steal, and if they don’t get them then we may get some points but if they get them they get easy fast-break points. Next game we will come back in the flow of things and try to take care of the ball a lot better than we did tonight. The first quarter I was just missing shots. I know as long as I continue to shoot them, some of them are going to go in. My teammates had all the confidence in the world in me and I hit some shots. In the third quarter my teammates told me to stay aggressive no matter what comes, and that is what I did. I came out and stayed aggressive and hit a couple shots and got myself going.”

On Keyon Dooling:
“Dooling has been unbelievable during the playoffs and he knows we need him. He comes in and gives us that gift of his energy that comes with his athleticism. And now he his knocking down shots better that anybody that is playing in the playoffs right now. Our bench has been big for us and is going to continue to be big for us as we go through this playoff run.”

HEAT Guard Keyon Dooling

On the Heat teammates confidence in him:
“It’s been big for me, the guys are showing a lot of confidence in me. I’m just glad that I can step up and make some shots.”

Oncoming off the bench:
“Definitely that’s my role on this team. I go out every night and try to execute. I can’t take all of the credit for that, I’ve been working hard in practice. D Wade has been looking for me, Shaq’s been looking for me and I just step up and make the shot.”

On the second quarter slippage:
“When there’s slippage there’s always danger, that’s why we practice so hard and work on the little things. You slip against a good team, and a team like Washington can beat you with those stretches of slippage. We just have to be consistent for 48 minutes and play Miami HEAT basketball.”

What changed in the 3rd quarter?:
“We didn’t turn the ball over. I think the 1st half we had 12 to 13 turnovers. The 2nd half we kept the turnovers to a minimum. We executed on offense, and did a better job attacking their zone in the 2nd half”.

Washington Wizards Head Coach Eddie Jordan

On the game:
“I thought that we came out a little bit tight. We always give them credit for their defense, but I thought we executed well enough to get open looks and quality possessions, but we didn’t shoot the ball well.”

“They do protect the paint very well. However, I thought we got some second chance opportunities, and we just felt a little bit tight. You could just tell.”

“We got it going a little bit in the second quarter. We won the second quarter 49-47. Damon Jones got loose for couple big threes. We had some missed assignment, and then they executed well and took control of the game.”

“In the second quarter we really played Wizards basketball, in a sense. We created turnovers or they had some turnovers, and we capitalized. We put the pressure on the offensive glass, and then in the Third Quarter they just took over the game. [Dywane] Wade really was assertive, especially when Shaq went out. Alonzo had two blocks. One, in front of us, on Gil’s [Gilbert Arenas’s] dunk, and then he had one in the second half that was a game turning type of a block.”

“They just protected their paint very well, and we had to rely on some perimeter shooting. We just didn’t get it done, and that’s what we rely on. We’ve always said, ‘you live by the sword, you die by the sword.’”

“We were 0-8, going into the series. We said ‘it was just a set up. We were just setting them up to win in the series.’ They are a very good team with Shaq, and everyone has confidence. Stan [Van Gundy] has people in the right places to be successful. He’s done a good job with them.”

“We know where we are. We are a young team that’s growing. We’re getting experience. There is one thing that is guaranteed. We’ve got two games here, and two in Washington. We’ll see where it goes.”

On the injuries:
“He’s hurting a little bit. Larry [Hughes] is hurting a little bit. We have to see about Antawn [Jamison]. He’s on the training table. We’re giving him some treatment now. It’s a concern right now for us.”

Wizards Guard Larry Hughes

On the game:
“We have a locker room full of guys that love a challenge. We have been down, but we are not out. We can definitely win a basketball game any day we step out there. This season the HEAT has beaten us pretty well, but we never feel like we cannot win a game. The game definitely felt like a back-to-back, playing the other night and leaving the arena at twelve o’clock, having this game start at 3:30, it definitely felt like a regular season back-to-back, with more at stake. We need to continue to fight and work hard, execute on both ends and not turn the ball over.”

On the media and experts not giving the Wizards a chance in the series:
“That is good, the experts do not play, they just use their expertise to analyze and break down things that could happen. But nobody ever knows, only the players know what they feel. Nobody will tell me that I will lose four games in a row. I come out and play hard and if it happens it happens. I never believe if someone says I cannot do something, or we cannot do something, and I think our team feels the same way.”

Wizards Center/Forward Michael Ruffin

On the game:
“Our offense was clicking there at the end of the second quarter. We got some buckets and stops when we needed them and we hoped that would continue into the second half.”

On Shaquille O’Neal:
“He’s the most dominant player in basketball and everyone knows that. All we could do is go out there and make it difficult for him. It’s a team effort and he’s going to get his points and his rebounds, but hopefully our team could win out.”

On rebounding from the Chicago series:
“We aren’t going to make excuses. We are going to have to come out here and play. We just got to come back Tuesday and be ready to play.”

Wizards Forward Jared Jeffries

On the game:
“We came out today and showed that we can play with them. The most important thing is that we stay consistent. You can’t have good spells and bad spells throughout the game. You have to stay consistent.”

On the third quarter:
“They did a very good job of getting to the free-throw line. We do really well when we go out there and start running, but when they slow down the game and get free throws is when it hurts us.”

On rebounding from the Chicago series:
“I think we are excited to be here. Enthusiasm could sometimes hinder things you want to do on executing your offense.”

On Shaquille O’Neal:
“He’s the most dominant player of our era. Its very difficult to move him and very difficult to play against him. He did a great job tonight changing the game for them.”

Wizards Guard Gilbert Arenas

On the game:
“We had looks but they weren’t going down. We missed too many open shots in the beginning of the game. We came out picking up full court and running them to death. Both teams started missing shots early and we were both stuck on 13 (points) for a while. They caught fire and then we caught fire in the second quarter. Once the second unit came in, they just pushed it out.”

On third quarter:
“We were just trying to keep it close instead of trying to run on them like we did in the second quarter which brought us within two.”