Basketball Quotes

The biggest difficulty in getting to the top of the ladder is getting through the crowd at the bottom.

I don't play basketball as good as I used to and I hate losing, so I'd rather not be seen in public until I make sure my A game is up.

When I was young, I was sold on winning. I was always serious on the court. As I got older, I realized that it was just a basketball game. Just go out there and have fun.

If your position is everywhere, your momentum is zero.

I visualize the game. I think about who I am guarding, the things he likes to do.

A player who makes a team great is better than a great player.

I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It.

The mismatch is not what gets you beat. What gets you beat is giving up the uncontested, open shot.

Nearly all our originality comes from the stamp that time impresses upon our sensibility.

My first ballet class was on a basketball court. I'm in my gym clothes and my socks trying to do this thing called ballet.

To be great we need to win games we aren't supposed to win.

Treat each player as your own son/daughter if you can...the parents have invested in you.

I told myself if I ever made it to the level I want to be at, I'm gonna give back.

If you are honest with yourself and can look into a mirror and believe that you have given 100 percent, you should feel proud. If you cannot, then there is more work to be done.

Passing is your best weapon against man to man. Dribble penetration is your best weapon against zone.

To a father, when a child dies, the future dies; to a child when a parent dies, the past dies.

Coaching is preparation.

If you want team play, you must stress defense. Defense makes players unselfish.

There's one thing everyone should understand: I like my character.

I realize that I'm black, but I like to be viewed as a person, and this is everybody's wish.

Morale and attitude are the fundamentals to success.

It is nothing new or original to say that golf is played one stroke at a time. But it took me many years to realize it.

You must learn how to hold a team together. You must lift some men up, calm others down, until finally they've got one heartbeat. Then you've got yourself a team.

I couldn't care less if the guy I'm guarding has HIV. I'm going to slam him anyway.

If you are a good team, your offense is born on the defensive end.

I don't look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball.

I don't feel anything when I watch Shaquille O'Neal play. I don't feel anything coming off him.

Basketball has been my life and I worked at it so hard because I enjoyed it so much.

The people at the top don't work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.

As long as you put on a jersey, no matter what kind of jersey it is, as long as you're supporting the game of basketball, I enjoy it.

When you got people behind you, you can do whatever.

Baseball players quit playing and they take up golf. Basketball players quit, take up golf. Football players quit, take up golf. What are we supposed to take up when we quit?

Believe me, I am not even that brave enough to miss that many practices.

We succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else, a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to that one objective.

Defense is what matters. Scoring doesn't interest me.

This is a mind over matter thing. We have to find it within ourselves to play for two hours. We love the game, so it's not like we're doing something we hate. We're doing something we love.

Our goal is not to win. It's to play together and play hard. Then, winning takes care of itself.

Self-esteem is directly linked to deserving success. You must deserve victory to feel good about yourself.

Defense doesn't break down on the help, it breaks down on the recovery.

When asked if he was a basketball player he replied No I clean giraffe ears.

Our guys took Shop and Advanced Shop. Shop is when you make a chair. Advanced Shop is when you paint it.

Live every day as if it were Saturday night.

Nervous means you want to play. Scared means you don't want to play.

Endangered species are our friends.

We win because we play together as a team.

If you have talent with teamwork, you've got a chance to be a championship team.

You know what I always say about basketball whenever anybody tried to tell me the Knicks are gonna be good: They're old. Old people don't get healthy. They die.

[The NBA] used to be a small band of basketball groupies. Now there are a lot more corporate-type people working in the league.

My body could stand the crutches but my mind couldn't stand the sideline.

To me, the most enjoyable part is the practice and preparation