Post-Game Media Availability: That's the Way the Ball Bounces Sometimes

That's the way the ball bounces sometimes.

Or in this case, not bounce at all, as Michael Beasley was able to get a put-back dunk off a missed shot from Dwyane Wade to give the Miami Heat a well-earned win over the Orlando Magic. In a game where the Magic held the lead for the majority of the second half, it's no surprise that head coach Stan Van Gundy stated that the team deserved to lose after being unable to make free throws and prevent the Heat from getting offensive rebounds in critical junctures down the stretch.

It happens. Can't win 'em all (especially the close ones).

I was able to ask a few questions to Vince Carter amongst the media, as well as speak with Rashard Lewis. Here's what they had to say:

Vince Carter:

Could you talk about Jason Williams' performance? Seemed like he was able to get things going in the pick and roll, off the dribble, etc.

He shot the ball well. He did take advantage, pushed the ball, made plays, knocked down a lot of open shots. I feel bad for him because he played that well, he kept us in the game and kept us close throughout the game so I wanted him to make those [free-throws] because he deserved to be the man of the hour because he was phenomenal tonight.

What was he able to do specifically?

Just knock down shots and he was very aggressive. He took what was there, when the ball was coming to him, he was ready to shoot.

Rashard Lewis:

With the last play, is that something that's tough to predict? When you're talking about rebounding an air-ball, you don't know where it's going to fall.

I mean, that's a tough situation. If it hit the rim, we would have had a better chance at getting the ball but [Michael] Beasley seemed like he timed it up perfect and knew it was coming off as an air-ball and grabbed it and put it back in.

When your shot isn't falling, is the plan sometimes to get you in the low post?

Try to get to the rim, make easy layups. Start crashing the offensive glass and get easy baskets, try to get myself going and I did it a couple times but for some reason, I'd just be wide open and I don't want to shoot threes the whole game, I got to try to do something different. I think the most important part is we got to get Dwight [Howard] more shots. Five shots tonight [for a player] that's going to be leading our team this year is not enough. We got to find a way to get him more shots. We got to pound it into him, he's got to get more shots than that.

For J-Will, I know it's a tough loss for him especially.

Yeah, he played great for us tonight. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have been in position to win the game. Missed some free throws, so what? Everybody misses free throws. They got offensive rebounding and put the ball back in to win the game, so the free throws didn't really matter. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have had a chance to win the game.