Basketball Quotes

Build shelter against a rainy day.

I never think that there's something I can't do, whether it's beating my opponent one on one or practicing another hour because something about my game is just not right.

The beautiful thing about when you go through a slide is that you learn from it. Not just saying that you learn from it, but applying the things that you have learned.

We're out playing ball in the gym, I put boogers on the basketball and pass it to him.

After Michael Jordan had scored a play-off record 69 points - I'll always remember this as the night Michael and I combined to score 70 points.

It's better to have a good player with the basketball in late game situations than to have plays.

We try to stress the little things because little things lead to big things.

Bill Russell helped make my dream a better dream because when you play with the best, you know you have to play your best.

I'm a lover not a fighter.

I think someone should explain to the child that it's OK to make mistakes. That's how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes.

Keep it simple, when you get too complex you forget the obvious.

My choosing Islam was not a political statement; it was a spiritual statement.

I told them my system was based on the "ant plan," that I'd gotten the idea watching a colony of ants in Africa during the war. A whole bunch of ants working toward a common goal.

My mother had to send me to the movies with my birth certificate, so that I wouldn't have to pay the extra fifty cents that the adults had to pay.

But try if you can to support, whether it's AIDS or the cancer foundation, so that someone else might survive, might prosper, and might actually be cured of this dreaded disease.

Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy.

You don't play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball.

Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings everyday.

Shot fakes and ball fakes work. No one uses more than Wisconsin. It's amazing how many people don't use them

Specialists can never practice their specialties too much. The danger is in not practicing enough. Make that mistake, and soon you may not be in the specialty business anymore.

John Stockton is one of the true marvels, not just of basketball, or in America, but in the history of Western Civilization!

Your problems never cease, they just change.

Don't whine. Find the positive in difficult situations.

I was homecoming queen. I was star of my basketball team.

Consistency is what counts; you have to be able to do things over and over again.

The playoffs are the playoffs. You just play who is put in front of you.

Nobody cared about swimming. You could draw a crowd for basketball.

Players who are late say that their time is more important than the team.

Your program must have an overriding purpose which is clearly visible and which teaches lessons beyond winning.

I always wanted to be a basketball player.

Think of new ways to do old things. You must protect against boredom in a practice situation.

People just don't understand how obsessed I am with winning.

Scoring 100 points is a lot, but I maybe could have scored 140 if they had played straight-up basketball.

When time is running out and the score is close, most players are thinking, I don't want to be the one to lose the game, but I'm thinking, What do I have to do to win?

Don't worry about being cool. Worry about being the best

I was a much better writer than I was an athlete. My college coach told me flat out, he said, "Deford, you write basketball better than you play it."

Never be ready to play yesterday. Being ready to play today is what's important

Coaching is easy. Winning is the hard part.

Being an All-Star is everything.

Attitude is altitude.

Athletes that can't listen, can condition.

You must be sure that you give back something that's beneficial to the game. Any of the teaching you do must be for the benefit of the men who play.

As all of us with any involvement in sports knows, no two umpires or no two referees have the same strike zone or call the same kind of a basketball game

Remember this, the choices you make in life, make you.

Regard your team as a family. Give the same attention to the bottom guy as you do the top guy. You have a responsibility to all of your players.

Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute.

It's not how big you are, it's how big you play.

When I go out on the ice, I just think about my skating. I forget it is a competition.

I can score 20 points if I want to, but that's not my desire.

As far as carrying the torch for the years to come, I don't know. I just want to be the best basketball player I can be.