NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v HEAT

May 23, 2005

Dwyane Wade

DWYANE WADE: Very tough in a playoff and tough to lose at home. You've got to come here tomorrow and learn from it, but at the same time, we learn from what we did wrong and we learn from what we did right and we take that into Game 2.

DWYANE WADE: It really wasn't -- I'm an unselfish player, and sometimes I've got opportunities to drive and I pick my dribble and I'm looking for my teammates and they did a good job, and then after that I had to force up a shot. It was just more my mind state than them just totally shutting me down. Sometimes I just missed shots and made bad decisions tonight, and I will correct them.

DWYANE WADE: First was all, I'm very confident in my ability. I shot terrible tonight, but I had some good looks. It wasn't like all my shots they contested and I just didn't have any good looks. I have to take that positive mind state into tomorrow, look at the film tomorrow and see what I have to do different, see what I have to do to have my team win and I will do it. I'm not really worried about that. Good win by Detroit to come in and get the first one, but we can come in tomorrow and be ready for it.

DWYANE WADE: During the game I say some things to the officials and I get mad, but at the same time it's going to come back to the next player and it's going to better. I get angry but it's just the nature of the game. I just missed some shots tonight I should have hit, and defensively, they had us moving around pretty well. They hit some shots, Ben Wallace hitting jump shots, nobody expecting that, and Rasheed really shot the ball well tonight, so we've got to make some adjustments offensively.

DWYANE WADE: He looked pretty good, came out strong early on. Shaq is really -- hurting or not hurting, he really wants to win, and he came out tonight and proved it. We weren't able to keep him in the game for long stretches, but as the series goes on and he gets more comfortable I think you'll see more domination from him.

DWYANE WADE: I think the main they have we have to do is have individual defense where we don't have to help as much. Rasheed got a lot of his looks because Udonis came to help and he kicked it out to Rasheed and he hit the shot. We've got to do a better job individually of stopping their men.

DWYANE WADE: Not really, nothing I've never seen. He's a very good defender, he's very long, but more the majority of the night they were switching on screens. Rasheed stuck me pretty much on some switches and Rip, also, so they just threw different defenders at me and gave me different looks. Tayshaun is really long.

DWYANE WADE: No question, this was one of the best defensive teams in the league, especially in the playoffs when every game they tune in on what you do. They're a great defensive team. They're very long inside of course with Tayshaun, but that's what makes this game fun, to see what adjustments you'll come out with next game. That's a credit to our team to see how we come out and make adjustments.

DWYANE WADE: No, no, they get the respect they deserve. They're the world champions. They're the second best team in the East this season, and they're playing well right now, so they get the respect they deserve and of course they were overshadowed a little bit by Shaq coming here and maybe they did come with a chip on their shoulder, but we're out there playing a game and not worrying about who's getting the most attention. They came out Game 1 and we'll come out Game 2.

DWYANE WADE: A little bit indecisive. I'm an unselfish player and I really wanted to get the ball to my teammates. I got stuck with the ball without dribbling, and I had to make some tough -- I had to shoot some tough shots, so it made it look like I was indecisive. I was ready for this game coming in here but I'll try to do something different.