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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v HEATMay 24, 2006Richard HamiltonDETROIT, MICHIGAN: Practice Day RIP HAMILTON: I definitely believe just to stay off our feet and stuff like that, we didn't have an opportunity to do that since we won 7 in Cleveland. So it was great for our legs and everything else. Q. Are we reading too much into the dead legs, or is there something to that do you think? RIP HAMILTON: Not at all. I mean, like I said, we'll have a good opportunity to rest today. Hopefully we can be fresh to come out and play tomorrow. Q. You rarely miss as many mid-range jumpers as you missed last night. Is that playing with your head at all? RIP HAMILTON: Not at all. I'm always like if I miss one, the next one is going in. Like I said, you can't be frustrated when you get the opportunities, when it's up to you to knock it down. Like I said, I got the shots that I wanted. Some of them went in, some of them didn't. I can live with that. Q. Obviously it's a team unit and you need a lot of things to work for this team to win, but Chauncey is struggling, and sometimes you need a point guard to get everything going. How much does that hurt the team that he's struggling? RIP HAMILTON: Chauncey is good for us because he's the catalyst of our team. He's the point man of our team to get us going, knowing when to shoot and knowing when to score and things like that. So it's important for him to really get his rhythm back because we depended on him so much all season, and we definitely need him during this series. Q. How would you characterize the offense the last six games or so in the post-season? RIP HAMILTON: I mean, we just beat Cleveland in a seven-game series. We didn't play so great yesterday offensively. It's one of them things that you want to try to get over. You want to keep playing, try to do the things that got you here earlier in the season. Q. Do you feel like you got that back against the wall again just like we were talking about in Cleveland? RIP HAMILTON: Man, you know, it's only Game 1. It's one game. We've got to do our job, come out early and try and get the next game. Q. What do you do to try and contain Dwyane Wade? RIP HAMILTON: You try and force him to shoot jump shots. Yesterday he was hitting the jump shot. You know, he played great; I think he went 9 for 11, so he's hitting his medium-range jump shot and things like that. Their whole team played well yesterday. Q. Why does it always seem to be difficult for this group where you rarely have sweeps, you rarely have five-game series? RIP HAMILTON: I have no idea. Just as much as everybody else is wondering why and frustrated with it, you know, we go through it, too. It's something that has just been happening, so we've got to figure out a way just to have an even keel, come out aggressive, regardless whether it's Game 1, Game 2, Game 3, come out aggressive. Q. Is there more concern going into this Eastern Conference Finals than in years past with your injury, Rasheed's injury, going to Game 7 with Cleveland? RIP HAMILTON: Not at all. Like I said, the one good thing about it, every situation we've been in, we've been in there. I think guys still understand that it's a seven-game series, regardless of whether you go up 1-0 or whatever. We know it's a seven-game series, and sometimes that hurts us because we know it's a seven-game series rather than just one game at a time. We've got to figure out a way to come out and play great. Q. How do you feel right now? RIP HAMILTON: I mean, hey, I can't complain. It's the Eastern Conference Finals. Me talking about that really doesn't matter. Only thing that matters is wins and losses. Q. Is it kind of like a grind, this playoff series, rather than in the past where you guys said this is fun, this is what you play for? Does it seem like more going to work now? RIP HAMILTON: I think we've got to get back to having more fun on the floor. I think a lot of times when we're good on the basketball court, we're out there smiling, laughing, having a good time. Right now it's not like that. It's like, oh, man, we're fighting for everything. I think we've got to get back to moving the ball and get in the flow, don't worry about just flowing the ball in the post, not worry about doing iso's and things like that. We've just got to get flowing and play good basketball. Q. Could you get that back with a few possessions, like a good quarter or a good half? RIP HAMILTON: I think so. Once we get going and get confidence back enough to saying, okay, let our offense work for us, let's go out there and just flow, don't worry about looking for mismatches and things like that, but just play the game. Q. Is this a different Miami team than what you saw during the regular season? RIP HAMILTON: Same team, same team. Q. Guys get streaky. It seems like it goes that way with you guys too. Is there a sense that maybe you guys are trying too hard, not that they're not falling? RIP HAMILTON: Well, we haven't got hot yet. As soon as they make their runs on us, then we chip, we keep chipping back and forth. We haven't really made that great run yet that we usually do. I think it's coming, and the good thing about it, we're playing the Eastern Conference Finals, and we've made it this far. Q. When Rasheed is productive, how does that challenge Miami or any defense? RIP HAMILTON: When Sheed is productive, I don't think we can be beat at all. I think Sheed is always the key to every game we step on the basketball court because he can do so many things, play inside, play outside, he can defend and do everything else, so I definitely think it's very important to us.
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