Pat Riley

And so it was it was the best feeling for not only me, but for the city of Miami.

It's almost like it was healing.

Maybe, but I don't look at it that way.

Right.

I mean, that was not a motivational ploy, but that was definitely a message that I wanted to get to him.

You know, just like when we were down, you know, to nothing, you know, I wrote on the board 6-20-06.

And they all looked at it like, OK, 6-20-06, what is that?

You know, and, you know, it definitely wasn't a biblical scripture or anything like that.

But I said that date is the first date that we can be world champions.

6-20-06, we're going to be world champions.

Get that in your mind.

And Gary Payton, I love him to death.

I just saw him the other day.

He showed me his 15-strong card.

It's a credit card.

It's not a credit card, but it's a real card.

15 strong, 250,000 cards we used to put in there and we used to believe that what we put into that pit, that little silver pit every night were more than cards.

They had to put something personal in there, rosary beads, your mother's pictures, your family, whatever it is, something that counted was in there.

They got me at the right time when I was probably yelling and screaming.

Well, Peyton said to me, OK, coach, I see the date.