NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v HEAT

May 30, 2005

Richard Hamilton

RICHARD HAMILTON: My mindset is we need to come out and get a win. This is when we play our best basketball, when our back is against the wall. It's a sad thing, but that's the reality of the situation. So I think, like I said, our spirits are great. We just know we've got to come out and take care of business.

RICHARD HAMILTON: I mean, it's a lack of concentration. We can't afford to miss as many free throws as we missed, just the simple fact, because the margin of error is small at this time of year. So I think we've just got to dig deep and take care of business.

RICHARD HAMILTON: He makes shots, man. You can't take nothing away from the guy. He's creative and gets to the paint. The refs have been calling fouls every time he goes to the basket. It's really tough to guard him that way because he's so physical, you try to get the contact and things like that. So we've just got to try to continue to help each other out, you know, got to continue to be on the string and make him make every shot he shoots up.

RICHARD HAMILTON: Shaq has been playing great. Like I said, he's definitely been making a big presence in the middle. I mean, shooting, what, 8 for 13 last night? He gave them a big boost at the beginning of the fourth quarter. So we've just got to play him a little bit better.

RICHARD HAMILTON: Pick-and-roll, pick-and-roll all the time. They run so many pick-and-rolls up top, and I think the one thing that he tries to do is when he comes off that pick-and-roll, he tries to attack the big. We've got to do a better job of sometimes mixing it up and trapping him, getting the ball out of his hands, other than allowing him to just come off and go on with a big and things like that.

RICHARD HAMILTON: We play better.

RICHARD HAMILTON: I have no idea (laughing). It's been like that since I've been here. We've always been playing better when we're down. We're down now, so we've got to play better.