Pat Riley Drank and Watched Film With Heat Coaches after Game 3 Loss

The San Antonio Spurs nailed a ton of threes and ran the Miami Heat out of the building in a 113-77 Game 3 thumping. After one of the worst losses in NBA Finals history, Heat president Pat Riley provided the calming influence (and the booze.) Per the Sun-Sentinel: “I was despondent,’ Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra. ‘I was beside myself.’ So he went back to his hotel suite to break down some game film. Video coordinator Dan Craig was there too. About 20 minutes later, there was a knock at the door. There stood Heat president Pat Riley with three bottles of wine and an offering of help. ‘So we gave him a laptop and he helped us break down film in a role reversal from 2006,’ said Spoelstra, a Heat assistant coach under Riley back then. ‘It was one of the most special moments in my professional career.’ The Heat came back to win Game 4 by a comfortable 109-93 margin. It speaks to the growth of Spoelstra’s relationship with Riley. ‘For the first two years he didn’t know my name,’ Spoelstra said. ‘Working so many hats for him and eventually becoming his assistant and it coming full circle.'”