HEAT Head Coach Stan Van Gundy

Opening Statement:
"Very hard fought game. I thought our guys fought very hard defensively and on the boards we got better in both areas, held their shooting percentage down a little bit, out rebounded them, both huge keys to the game, and I thought our 4th quarter execution was much better. Energy in the first half was great. We did not come out of the locker room with the same energy in the 3rd quarter. Obviously that was a big problem in the last game, as well. We'd like to change that, and we turned the ball over too many times. Dwyane was obviously fabulous tonight. You can't be great, great, great every night. You know, he heard all of you talking and writing the other night about how they had the answer to him and everything else. I'm always confident that he can adjust and that doesn't mean he's going to be a dominant guy every single night, nobody is at this level of the playoffs, but he's a great player and he made some adjustments tonight, played very well. I think you'll see them make some adjustments on them. Up in Detroit I think we have a decent idea of what those will be, and we'll have a couple of days to work on those, as well. You know, it's obvious all we did was get ourselves back in the series. They came here to Miami just wanting to take home the home court advantage. They got that. Obviously we've got our work cut out for us going up to Detroit against the defending champions and having to get something done on the road. It's going to be even more difficult than it was tonight. We fully understand that, and we look forward to getting back to work after a day off tomorrow."

Can you talk about how Wade after having such a tough game responded so strongly just mentally? How tough is it to respond the way he did after Game 1?:
"I think you guys all saw that tonight, how tough he is mentally. I said after the last game, you go back to my comments then, I said, look, the thing I have confidence in, yeah, they're a great defensive team. I don't think it will be easy for Dwyane or any of our guys the entire series, but Dwyane for two years has been a guy that when you find an answer to him, he'll go back and take a look and make some adjustments himself. This isn't a guy who just writes things off, he's not a guy who makes excuses. He will give people their due in his mind and their respect and look at what they're doing and try to make an adjustment. Now, they will another adjustment and hopefully we can be ahead of the curve a little bit, but no matter what happens, this guy will keep trying to work and adjust. It's one of the reasons that he's as good as he is and one of the reasons that in this organization we have the respect for him we do, not just because of his talent. This is a smart, humble guy who approaches his profession the right way."

Can you just describe what the adjustments were? It looked like he was attacking the basket more. Was that what you guys saw on the film?:
"I mean, look, I don't want to get into adjustments we made because I certainly am not smart enough to figure out anything what gets him from where he was to 40 points. I think he looked at the way he was being played, he looked at the mistakes that he made, and took a different approach into the game. Now, again, I mean, they'll make adjustments and then they'll make it tough again the next time, but that's what constantly goes on. As great as he has been, and I said this to him yesterday, you tend to forget, this is still just a second year guy. As much as we need him and as much as we expect out of him, he can't carry the weight of our whole team on his shoulders and he can't be expected to have to dominate every single night. This is a second year guy who's still trying to learn a lot. The thing I like is he does learn and I think he proved that tonight. It doesn't mean he's getting 40 or 30 or even 25 every night in this series, but it means this guy's approach is he's going to come in and constantly try to get better."

HEAT Guard Damon Jones

You came out there, hit a few key 3s. Talk about getting in your rhythm. We know D. Wade got in his, but you kind of got in yours, too.:
"I just wanted to come out and be aggressive tonight and give Shaq and D. Wade some help. You know, I was feeling good early. I got the two fouls and I was kind of frustrated that I had to sit down early in the first quarter, but I took the initiative to come out in the second quarter and just be aggressive. I got a few open looks and was able to make them. I got to the free throw line and my night went well from there."

You watch Dwyane every day but when you see a fourth quarter like he had, taking charges, blocking shots, amazing left handed hooks. What are you saying to him as you're going back to the bench?:
"Man, keep it going (laughter). This guy has done it all year long. He was down on himself about his Game 1 performance, but we told him, "hey, all good players have bad games." I think he came out very aggressive on both ends of the floor tonight. We have to give the credit to Stan. He made some just adjustments in that we ran some things to open the floor up. We had opportunities to get to the basket without the Wallace boys being there."

How motivated was he? Eddie said in the locker room said all the media said the Pistons have him figured out. How motivated did you see Dwyane tonight?:
"He was very motivated. He came to me at the beginning of the game and said, "just be in your spot because I'm going to attack the basket very hard, and if those guys come I'm going to be kicking. If not, then I'm going to be aggressive at going to the basket." I knew when he said that that he's going to be real aggressive."

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

Tell us about the adjustments coming off of the game in Game 1 to tonight.:
"First of all, I just wanted to be more aggressive than I was the first night on driving the ball to the hole, not looking for fouls, just looking to finish. As I did that, then the rest of the game opened up for me, so that was my main thing coming into tonight."

Even your coach Stan Van Gundy and Eddie Jones in the locker room talked about how motivated you were about how the media covered your Game 1 performance and how the Pistons stifled you. Can you speak to your motivation coming into this game based on what you did in Game 1.:
"Well, I didn't read anything y'all said. I didn't read anything that the Pistons said. I just listened to the people I listened to all year, all my coaches, my high school coach, college coach, my NBA coach and then I looked at film. I know I'm human and I'll have some bad games, but it's all how you come back the next game. I helped my team get a win tonight, and that's all I can ask for."

Of all the pieces of advice that you got, whether it be from your college coach or Stan, also Pat Riley had a little bit of influence. Can you talk about what he said about the Jordan effect, if that motivated you?:
"You know, I had so much influence and Coach Riley telling me that even the great ones, even Jordan had a bad game. "Don't put it all on your shoulders. Come back and play hard." I think one of the biggest things that helped me was Zo and Shaq yesterday when I was at home, they came and picked me up and we went for a little ride, and we were just talking, you know. We all got one goal in mind. We all want to win a championship, and us three have got to be big parts of that. I'm just going to play my game and be a leader on this team. I listen to guys who have been doing it for years, and I just try to come out and make them proud."

HEAT Center Shaquille O'Neal

Usually you get scared when someone calls your house that late?:
"Yeah, you do, you do. But I just wanted to have him hear that before he went to bed. We usually go to bed pretty much around the same time. I was up, I was watching ESPN and he was taking a lot of heat, so I just wanted to call and I wanted my voice to be the last thing he heard before he went to sleep, just wanted to give him inspiration. He's been playing the best in the postseason. We played nine games and he let one slip away. I told him it happens to the best of them. I just wanted to tell him to take his time and let the game come to him."

You looked real comfortable out there today. How did you feel?:
"I felt good. Zo is definitely playing well, playing hard, playing good defense, blocking shots. We had some slivers tonight, but we knew it wasn't going to be easy. We let the first one slip away, we didn't want to let this one slip away. Now we've just got to get up there and get number two, and we should be right back on track."

You were very animated entering the fourth quarter after Stan broke the huddle. You had guys rally around you. What did you say to them?:
"I just told them "Keep it up, we're not going to let this one slip away. Just keep fighting, keep fighting." We had three great quarters, and third quarter we really didn't play well, and fourth quarter we kicked it up back and played good defense."

Was there a time that Dwyane came up large? The fact that he did it so much in the fourth quarter, how big a deal was that?:
"It's a great deal. He's a great player, he was doing great. We knew he was going to make some shots and was able to get the rebounds and was able to penetrate, and he's a very effective player. Some guys have to be ready to know when to shoot, me and Zo and Udonis, of course we've got to be ready. He played fabulously."

Detroit Pistons Head Coach Larry Brown

What type of adjustments do you think Dwyane Wade made in this game from the Game 1, specifically in the 4th quarter?:
"I didn't think he made any. You know, he got out on the break in the first half. We had a whole bunch of turnovers. I think the 2nd quarter, I don't know if they scored in the half court, and that got them going, but he just played great. They got him in a lot of screening situations, and he did a tremendous job, but he got a bunch of easy baskets in transitions, which in Game 1 we kind of kept him out of there. That got him going. We had about five or six fast breaks in the second quarter. We had 3 on 1's, 3 on 2's and we didn't even get a shot, and I think that really put us behind the 8 ball. Then the 4th quarter when you get way behind you've got to play perfect, and we missed some shots and maybe we took some quick outside shots, but I thought it was a great game. I was proud of the way we got back in the game, and they just made the plays at the end that we made in Game 1."

Considering what you know about Wade I'm sure you're not surprised that he responded the way he did?:
"I think I told everybody, you know, he's as good as it gets in our league, and he's a great kid to go along with it, and he had a phenomenal game. With that in mind, we still had a chance to win coming from behind, but he was phenomenal in every way, and I think Stan did a great job with putting him in that position where he could be successful."

Given all the things that went wrong for you tonight, how do you still feel about the long term prospects given that you still had a chance to win this game last minute, still have home court advantage. What type of feelings do you take out of this game?:
"I'm proud of my team. If I was in the Miami dressing room, I'd feel the same way. We shot poorly. You know, you can't turn the ball over when you have numbers, if you don't get a shot, they have numbers the other way. But the effort to come back, you know, was remarkable. But they're a great team. They're well coached. I know Shaq is not Shaq, but you can't guard him. He commands so much attention. You know, hopefully we'll give ourselves a chance to win at home, but I didn't think the series was over after Game 1, and I thought we had to play our best to win this game, and we came up a little short. But they had a lot to do with it."

Pistons Guard Chauncey Billups

Even though you didn't shoot the ball well for two and a half quarters, you still had a chance to win this thing?:
"Yeah, that was probably the worst half that we've played, first half, in a long time. I know it was probably the worst half I've played all season. We just didn't give ourselves a great chance. But with all that that happened, we still got the game under control and had our chances."

The fact that you leave here with a split, do you take much from that?:
"I mean, we expected at least a split, you know what I mean, so we're not really happy with going home with a split. We felt like we should have won this game. But you've got to give them a lot of credit. Wade was unbelievable. You know, he hit his shots today. Their role players played good, too, so you've got to give those guys a lot of credit."

Pistons Center Ben Wallace

What was the effect when they gave Dwyane the ball at the top tonight?:
"You know, it wasn't really no shock. We dug a hole and had to conserve a lot of energy to climb out of it. They did a great job of moving the ball around, getting everybody involved, Dwyane Wade hit some tough shots. You know, they came away with the win, but we put the effort there in the second half to get back in the game, and we did some good stuff in the second half, but two good halves for those guys got them the win tonight."

Was he more energetic than he was in Game 1?:
"I think he hit a couple shots early. You know, any time you get a couple shots early, it sort of boosts your confidence a little bit. After that he was attacking the basket, and any time you get a couple lay ups the basket gets wide for you."

How are you feeling about going home now?:
"Still like we've got chances. Came here and didn't do exactly what we wanted to do, but now we've got to go back to Detroit and see what we do there."

Pistons Forward/Center Rasheed Wallace

What was the effect of him putting Wade at the top of the key tonight with the ball?:
"It was just the way we played, just taking what they given us. We had to do a good job with the Big Fella. I pretty much just took the shots that they gave me."

On Shaq being at full strength or close:
"I mean, they made some adjustments, they did what a good team is supposed to do, made some adjustments on the first game, and they played a good game tonight. Can't take nothing away from them."

How did you guys feel despite everything that happened being in the same position you were in Game 1 with a shot to win at the end?:
"We were kicking ourselves in the ass. You know, it was basically our fault, we just missing shots down the stretch and they made some shots. Can't take nothing away from that."

What did you see as the difference there in the second quarter? It seems like guys were turning the ball over and couldn't get the ball to the basket?:
"That's what it was, just what you said. We had a couple turnovers, and those are things that we've got to cut down on. I think we had turned the ball over maybe 15, 16, 17 times for a game. We've just got to cut down on it. That was our Achilles heel tonight."