Pat Riley Defensive Quotations

There are universal truths of defensive basketball. If a guy is open, guard him. Don't leave him standing in the corner or out on the three-point line.

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?

I don't have an answer for that team. We don't have a defensive game for them.

I think probably a month ago or two months ago we wouldn't even come close to winning a game like this. We were very frustrated in the beginning with some very good defensive tactics on their part. They were just committed to fouling Shaquille (O'Neal) every single time.

We do not have any answer for that team. And right now, we don't have a defensive game to realize what it is exactly you need to do to stop that.

When you're casting your ballots for Defensive Player of the Year or All-Defensive Team, there's no doubt. I think people forget about what he's done. He's second in the league in blocks and he only plays 16 or 18 minutes per game. He's really a factor for us. I thought he was the difference tonight.

We don't have an answer for that team and right now, we don't have a defensive game for it. I think you have to play against them probably four, five, six times to realize exactly what it is that you need to do to try to stop them.

We will get beat tomorrow night if we bring any of the defensive lapses that we had against Seattle.

We had a great fourth quarter defensively. We did not get into foul trouble early and made some really big defensive plays. They shot the ball extremely well tonight. We were down going into the fourth quarter and really raised the level of our defense.

We controlled the game for the most part except for the end of the second quarter. Alonzo had a huge impact on the game defensively. He gave us a defensive lift when we needed it.

Offense I don't think is going to be a problem for us. It's sustained defensive intensity.

I'm sure that everybody will say that I'm just up here trying to complain, but I don't see how he could ever get to the basket. I don't care if he's 340 pounds. They get locked into such a defensive position that they just hold him. ... Impeding his progress. But he's got to find a way to get around that.

He's amazing. He gave us the defensive lift we really needed.

Alonzo had a huge impact on the game defensively. I think he gave us the defensive lift when we needed it.