I never like for anybody to miss a game. I think that if you’re going to play, you play the best. I’ve never been one of those people who hopes a guy doesn’t play, because...

We are still hanging in there, competing and finishing to the end.

I kind of got that feeling after a while. If I’m being discussed, I kind of want to be there.

The way we started the game was atrocious. It looked like we wanted to play outside (on the perimeter) all night and that made it very difficult for us.

Carlos is playing pretty strong. He should probably start to be about at the level he’s playing at now after being out for a long period of time. He’s finding a rhythm. He played extremely...

We’ve always had a rule in the last second or so: get next to your man. We weren’t even close to the guy.

We just couldn’t keep them in front of us. We couldn’t keep them from penetrating to the basket. They got about everything they wanted tonight. They were playing in such a comfort zone that we...

As long as Greg was here, we were always third or fourth in the league in (defensive field-goal percentage),

Because when I get put in a corner, I’m not gonna just fold up like an accordion. I never have. I’ll try to do it the right way, and be fair, but I’m gonna put...

Guys played a lot harder. They played a lot more determined to try to win, rather than the way we have been.

Size doesn’t make any difference. Heart is what makes a difference. These guys over there want to make the playoffs more than we do. That’s indicated by the way they play, how hard they play.

This was a winnable ball game on our part.

For the most part, … he’s had his moments where he’s played pretty well.

Greg didn’t burn any bridges, … Greg and I fought almost every day (but) I apologized to Greg more than anyone I’ve ever coached.

They did everything they wanted to do tonight. They looked in mid-season form and we looked like we were in exhibition season not knowing what we’re doing. Too many times we were confused as to...

We started to play a little bit at the end of the ballgame, but it was a little bit too late.

It’s like the end of the world that we didn’t (beat Orlando on Monday) by 20. But we’ve won (five out of eight games) and that hasn’t been discussed.

Andrei was terrific in helping our people (defensively). He had seven blocked shots which was really life saving coming down the stretch because their momentum picked up there at the end.

We couldn’t do anything in overtime. They made their shots, and we just couldn’t make any of ours.

Our guys looked like they had their bags packed at halftime.

If you’re supposed to be on a certain place on the floor defensively, you’ve got to get there. You can’t just go crazy. And if you’ve got a certain assignment on the offensive end of...

I thought our guys were playing hard tonight. I really thought we were playing hard. Dallas gets to it and they get whatever they want and go inside and really take it to you. They’ve...

They’ve got to do what they’ve got to do.

Those were some pretty good shots. But they didn’t go in the basket ? and you have to be able to make them in this league.

I had said it would be a big disappointment if the team didn’t make the playoffs. I’m not sure that we have enough guys that are hungry enough to want to be in the playoffs....

Give (the Heat) credit, because they’re a great team. They’ve got guys who can get to the basket and get to the free throw line. We don’t have a guy who can get 20 free...

We gave them everything they needed to get their game going and win the ballgame. They came up and put the pressure on us, and we turned the ball over a little bit, and then...

I thought we executed our offense pretty well. We’re still alive and that’s the important thing. The games mean something … You just keep fighting and playing until the season is over and see what...

They ran us off the floor.

We hang or heads over missed shots just so much it is like we are grade school again. You can’t let those things take you out of the game.

Milt got us in the open floor, they found him [with outlet passes] and he made some good decisions.

[And the schedule still includes the scenarios Sloan believes are most important: A couple of back-to-backs, so players get used to playing and traveling on the same day, and a stretch of three games in...

He just needs to shoot the ball when he’s open. When he’s done that, he’s fine. When he hesitates a little bit on it, he has a little bit of a problem.

Maybe we should have been watching them.

I just thought it was an opportune time to do that because maybe he had something in his head, or something was going on that I wasn’t aware of.

I said before the season that I think we should be a playoff team. I don’t think a lot of people felt that way outside of our organization. We aren’t [deep] enough to have people...

People think it’s pretty easy, but it’s pretty difficult. A year ago, this team just kept going farther and farther down. They didn’t step up and try to make a change. We were 11-21, I...

He’s seems to be very, very happy about coming back and letting me get on [him] again.

He is a tough assignment for anybody. He’s a terrific player. He can put the ball on the floor. And they’ve got the right complement for him: They’ve got guys that can make 3-point shots.

Greg Ostertag had a tremendous finish for us. He was able to block up the middle and keep them from getting on top of the basket.

Somebody should have knocked the hell out of him and got him off the floor. First of all, if you’re a player, you should never let him get that far to begin with. You never...

We’re feeling a little bit sorry for ourselves,

He’s probably saying, ‘Why haven’t I played all year? I was asking the same thing.

He’s (Palacio) terrific, he was terrific down the stretch. He made his free throws; he took the ball to the basket and just played extremely well. He seemed to be very confident playing in that...

As soon as you whip yourself but shaking your head and feeling sorry for yourself, you’re a whipped pup. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is. Guys on the other team love seeing that....

He kept us under control, and didn’t throw the ball away. He had one turnover . . . That’s what we need, so we can get into an offense.

We didn’t really seem to have any life.

It’s tough on Jeff. He’s trying to win and doing everything he can. You wonder what’s going to happen to you next.

This is the way we’ve always wanted to play. We got our hands on the ball and got rebounds tonight.