--Coach Pat Riley said soon after acquiring C Shaquille O'Neal, Riley told O'Neal that Riley didn't want to hear any remarks about O'Neal's former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, or Lakers G Kobe Bryant, with whom O'Neal was feuding.
"I told him the first day that he got here that I don't want to hear anything," Riley said. "I don't want to hear anything about L.A." Riley also put a gag order on the departure of former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy in December 2005, telling O'Neal he didn't want to "hear one thing" about Van Gundy.
"But he's a man of his own thinking," Riley said. "He's going to say what he wants to say."
--Coach Pat Riley reiterated he'll try to ignore former C Shaquille O'Neal's derogatory remarks.
"Am I surprised?" Riley said. "No. Am I going to move on? Yes. As far as that period goes, there is a rearview window that I will always look back and see fondly, but we're moving forward.
"Everything's out in front of us right now," he said. "My vision is so much bigger than what's going on right now with his dialogue. My vision is from the worst to the best in one year. That's my goal. That's all I'm working on. From the worst to the best in one year and it can happen to this team if we can get the right people here."
--Miami used its franchise-record 28th starting lineup Thursday at Detroit -- G Chris Quinn, G Kasib Powell, C Mark Blount, F Earl Barron, F Ricky Davis. G Daequan Cook missed the game with a mild concussion, which he sustained after getting hit with an inadvertent elbow from New York's Jared Jeffries on Wednesday. Powell, a D-League signee on a 10-day contract, started in Cook's place at shooting guard.
--Coach Pat Riley will miss the next two games -- Saturday at Boston and Sunday at Indiana -- to scout prospects at the NCAA Tournament.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We have sutured up the stab wounds in the back, so everybody's waiting for another onslaught. That's how we look at it." -- Heat coach Pat Riley, on former C Shaquille O'Neal's recent critical comments.
