"They performed well, so we lost the game, it's that simple."
"I think our performance was quite good, but we were restrained by their style, and that's an issue we can't change."
"Plans for the summer? Let them enjoy the summer first. Falling in the Eastern Conference Finals is also a very long journey; they need some rest."
"I won't continue to serve as head coach. This was only a rescue operation, and obviously, I failed!"
After the game, Pat Riley didn't reveal much about his next moves, only announcing that he would resign from the position of head coach and refocus his efforts on his role as general manager. As soon as the interview ended and he returned to the team bus, he pulled out the statistics from the Heat Team's five games in the Eastern Conference Finals.
His gaze traveled down the page and finally stopped at Shaquille O'Neal's average stats:
