Pat Riley says he brought a 2x4 wood board into the Miami Heat locker room to teach his players about overcoming their fears “I remember I brought a two-by-four into the locker room. I placed it down, all the guys were ready, and I walked across it without falling off. I said, ‘Somebody else come up and walk.’ A couple guys came up and walked across it and laughed, ‘I could do it too.’” “I said, ‘What if we put that 200 feet in the air, spanning two buildings?’ Now it changes the whole thing. It’s called fear. Down here it’s easy, but up here is where you have to play.” “My whole theory was that you can play on the floor, but if you want to beat Dwyane, or you want to beat Michael, or you want to beat Kobe, you’ve got to meet them at the rim. You’ve got to get up there at the rim and meet them there. Otherwise they’re going to dunk on you and embarrass you.” “And there was also a subtle message. When you meet somebody at the rim, what happens? It’s a collision. I had one rule: if you meet him at the rim and you take somebody out, you’ve got to go out with them. You don’t want to hurt anybody, but you’ve got to meet him at the rim or it’s over.”