HEAT Head Coach Stan Van Gundy

On the game:
“It was a very hard fought game. I thought the Wizards played very hard and very well. They are a tough team, very tough. We get them down by 13 points and then it seemed like its back to four points 30 seconds later. They won’t go away. We had to get a lot of stops down the stretch. Both teams had a lot of tired people out there. It was a very intense game here on the road, and it was a great win for our team. I was very proud of our effort tonight, particularly defensively and on the boards. We will gather ourselves for Saturday night and expect another difficult one.”

On Dwyane Wade:
“He was very upset at himself at halftime. He had six turnovers. He got a lot of encouragement from a lot of people, even me, and I am not exactly mister encouragement. His teammates have a lot of believe in him and we knew we needed him. He had a tremendous second half, 9-for-15 from the field and only two turnovers. Having to guard guys as talented as Hughes and Arenas was a fabulous job. He also got some big rebounds, he just battled and our whole team battled.”

On Alonzo Mourning:
“Alonzo gets real excited to play and the most fatigued that he got was in the first four minutes of the game. He had all that adrenaline and was so excited to be out there that once he got through that, he got fatigued a little bit and it slowed him down. He played a very good game, he was changing shots all over the place, rebounding the ball and he had some timely baskets. He was tremendous.”

On playing without Shaquille O’Neal:
“What we have to really do without Shaq is buckle down defensively. It is a lot harder for us to score. The key for us tonight was that we only had four turnovers in the second half. We played six halves in this series and in four of them we had double digit turnovers. In those four halves it has been close. The two halves where we took over is where we didn’t turn the ball over. We talk about it everyday. In the second half tonight we played extremely solid basketball and we got the win.”

HEAT Center Alonzo Mourning

On the Heat:
“First and foremost, I am happy to be in this situation. It feels great to play with a group of guys whose intentions are the same. There are no distractions whatsoever. When you have worked hard for years and years you appreciate this type of effort and attitude, and that is why I wanted to be a part of this group. Fortunately, it worked out for the best. This was an incredible game to be a part of and that is a resilient group of guys [Wizards] over there, but we persevered.”

“This is not a one or two man team. We have a lot of guys with a lot of pride whom understand the goal that we have set for ourselves. The reason why this team was assembled was to win a championship, and these guys are doing whatever it takes to accomplish this goal regardless of what obstacles have come in their way.”

“Shaq at shoot around this morning pulled me to the side and said, ‘Look big fellow, I am going to need you tonight,’ and I told him to say no more.”

On his play:
“I am in great shape. I haven’t forgotten how to play this game. I have worked my butt off and conditioned myself to be ready. When my number is called, I am ready to go.”

On Dwyane Wade:
“Words can’t explain how much Dwyane Wade has meant to this team. He is a special individual. I told him at halftime that I am proud of him. He has carried us this far, and whatever happens in the second half is up in the air. I have been doing this for 13 years. He looked at me and nodded and stepped up in the second half.”

HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade

On the game:
“I came with a different mind set, and I really try to be a playmaker. I really try to attack and I know that if I attack, they will come to me and I’ll get the ball to my teammates. If I could have made my free throws, I could have had a better game. I wanted to be a playmaker because that transfers into doing other things.”

On the end of the game:
“I don’t characterize it as a scare. This is a team [Washington Wizards] that isn’t going away. We have to play better, but Washington is a good team, and they’re in the playoffs for a reason. We came out to win.”

On Game three:
“I expect them to come out with a lot of energy. The crowd is going to be wild. I expect them to come out very aggressively. I expect every game to be a battle. We need to be able to withstand that. Hopefully, we will take care of business.”

HEAT Guard Damon Jones

On the game:
“We went into the game trying to stop those guys from getting to the basket as easily as they did in Game One game one] we were getting into foul trouble and they were getting to the free-throw line. Coming into Game Two we wanted to be able to contain our man and rebound the basketball. We played how we had to on each end of the floor and that’s what good teams have to do.”

On the play of Dwyane Wade:
“He has done it all year long. Tonight he came out and showed that he could distribute the basketball, and in the second half he took over scoring. It didn’t surprise me at all. I see it everyday at practice and he’s just a great talent. With him firing and the Big Fella getting back into his groove, we are going to be a hard team to beat.”

HEAT Forward/Guard Eddie Jones

On the game:
“I tried my best, when I got the ball, to be aggressive and attack the rim. Then he started backing off of me and I let it fly. I didn’t think I did a great job of rebounding tonight which I was really upset with because (Antawn) Jamison really got going because of his rebounds. I got to rebound better and play better defense on him. I let him get going in the second half. When you turn the ball over, you give a team confidence. We knew going in there that we couldn’t turn the ball over because we aren’t that quick getting back. They really push the ball down your throat with their layups. If we can cut down turnovers and rebound better I think we will have a better game Thursday.”

On post season play:
“I love the game, I really love this game and I’m just out there competing because that is where the fun is. When you are on a pretty good team you are just having some fun out there and enjoying it.”

On Game Three:
“It [winning Game Three] is important. You really don’t want to give a team any life, especially a young team. If you give a young team some life you never know how far they can go with it.”

On the second half:
“I made a lot of mistakes in the third quarter. I had a bad second half. I didn’t make anything and I couldn’t make the right pass. We got down by 10 and couldn’t catch up. It’s a learning process, but right now I can’t feel good about it.”

On the series:
“We still think we can beat them. We have to win four in a row, but we’re only focusing on the next one. We did it in the Bulls series to get here. Win one, get another. Win again, get another. Now we’ll try to do that again. We’re not going to give up just because it’s 0-3.”

Wizards Center Brendan Haywood

On the Wizards:
“Nobody in this locker room is done playing. We’re going to approach it one game at a time from here and we’ll see what happens.”

On the series:
“We aren’t looking at it like we have to win four games. Right now, it’s win one and advance. It’s all about one game right now.”

Wizards Forward Jared Jeffries

On the next game:
“We’re going to look at it like it’s one game left in our season. If we win it, we’ll play another one. We know we can play so much better than this.”

Wizards Guard Juan Dixon

On Miami:
“Sometimes in the NBA there are teams that have your number. Right now it looks like Miami has our number. But we’re going to make them fight for everything.”

On Dwyane Wade:
“Dwyane is a great player. He made big shot after big shot. You have to give credit to him, his teammates and his coaches.”

Wizards Guard Larry Hughes

On the game:
“Well I think that they got some loose balls and got a couple of rebounds to help them out. When you put the pressure on teams after going down 13 and are able to cut the lead to four, most teams feel that if they get a play early, it will stop the bleeding. I think that experience really matters. The guys who make the plays and that stop the run are key.”

On the game:
“I think that we played well in the first half. It was the third quarter where we turned the ball over more times than we shot it. We can’t win against a top team in this league coming out of halftime and turning the ball over. If we play with better control in the third quarter, it is a different situation.”

On guarding Dwyane Wade:
“I like a challenge. One-on-one is fine. To play him, you have to fight through screens and stay in front of him. He is so strong and always looking to make plays. He is probably one of the toughest guys to guard as far as coming off of the screen and roll. He uses his body so well.”

On the series:
“We take it game-by-game. We are going to go out and try to win the next game. We still feel like we can win the basketball game. We have to do a lot of things right. We have worked too hard before and during the season to not think that we can win. I think that we have enough stuff to go out and win a basketball game and that is what it comes down to.”