Basketball Quotes
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You always have to give 100%,because if you don't someone, somewhere will give 100% and they will beat you when you meet. (Quote by - Ed Macauley)
I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot. When you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
I never thought I'd lead the NBA in rebounding, but I got a lot of help from my team-mates – they did a lot of missing. (Quote by - Moses Malone)
There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren't willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
I always know what's happening on the court. I see a situation occur, and I respond. (Quote by - Larry Bird)
Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. (Quote by - John Wooden)
In life you are given two ends, one to think with the other to sit on. You success in life depends on which end you use the most. Head you win, tails you lose. (Quote by - Conrad Burns)
You can run a lot of plays when your X is twice as big as the other guys' O. It makes your X's and O's pretty good. (Quote by - Paul Westphal)
Pressure can burst a pipe or pressure can make a diamond. (Quote by - Robert Horry)
The game is my life. It demands loyalty and responsibility, and it gives me back fulfillment and peace. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
It doesn't matter who scores the points, it's who can get the ball to the scorer (Quote by - Larry Bird)
Sometimes you're the pigeon, and sometimes you're the statue. (Quote by - Bernie Bickerstaff)
We try to stress the little things because little things lead to big things. (Quote by - Steve Alford)
Boys are playing basketball around a telephone pole with a backboard bolted to it. (Quote by - John Updike)
The secret is to have eight great players and four others who will cheer like crazy. (Quote by - Jerry Tarkanian)
Believe that the loose ball that you are chasing has your name wirtten on it. (Quote by - Mike Krzyzewski)
The trouble with officials is they just don't care who wins. (Quote by - Tommy Canterbury)
In practice, don't just run basketball drills, teach the players how to play basketball. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God's way to say nobody's perfect. (Quote by - Shaquille O'Neal)
One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team. (Quote by - Kareem Abdul Jabbar)
You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good. (Quote by - Jerry West)
Criticize on defense and encourage on offense. (Quote by - John Brady)
When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro. (Quote by - Larry Bird)
Mental toughness is to physical as four is to one. (Quote by - Bobby Knight)
The only important shot you take is the next one. Because no matter how hard you try, that is the only one you can still have an effect on! (Quote by - Jason Bumblis)
These are my new shoes. They're good shoes. They won't make you rich like me, they won't make you rebound like me, they definitely won't make you handsome like me. They'll only make you have shoes like me. That's it. (Quote by - Charles Barkley)
Giving Magic the basketball is like giving Hitler an army, Jesse James a gang, or Genghis Khan a horse. (Quote by - Jim Murray)
If I weren't earning $3 million a year to dunk a basketball, most people on the street would run in the other direction if they saw me coming. (Quote by - Charles Barkley)
The two ingredients in success in basketball are playing hard and playing intelligently. (Quote by - Pete Carill)
They don't pay you a million dollars for two-hand chest passes. (Quote by - Pete Maravich)
I thank my teammates for letting their men blow by them. (Quote by - Alonzo Mourning)
My heroes are and were my parents. I can't see having anyone else as my heroes. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
The key is not the will to win . . . everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important. (Quote by - Bobby Knight)
Never underestimate the heart of a champion. (Quote by - Rudy Tomjanovich)
When it's played the way is spozed to be played, basketball happens in the air; flying, floating, elevated above the floor, levitating the way oppressed peoples of this earth imagine themselves in their dreams. (Quote by - John Edgar Wideman)
Young people need models, not critics. (Quote by - John Wooden)
We're shooting 100 percent - 60 percent from the field and 40 percent from the free-throw line. (Quote by - Norm Stewart)
They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds. (Quote by - Wilt Chamberlain)
Successful programs consist of people working hard, working together, while never worrying about who gets the credit. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
Basketball teams, after the perfunctory lay-up drill, fall into the crowded isolation and personal style of 10 city kids shooting at the same basket or playing one-on-one. (Quote by - Ted Solotaroff)
Help one kid at a time. He'll maybe go back and help a few more. (Quote by - Al McGuire)
Can't anything be done about calling these guys student athletes? That's like referring to Attila the Hun's cavalry as weekend warriors. (Quote by - Russell Baker)
The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would not play Drop the Handkerchief. (Quote by - James Naismith)
I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don't do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
I'll always be Number 1 to myself! (Quote by - Moses Malone)
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. (Quote by - John Wooden)
I'm like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. If I'm not ready, the sled isn't going to go. (Quote by - Kevin Garnett)
Great defense consists of 3 R's: read, react, and rotate. (Quote by - P. Carr)
If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball. (Quote by - Phil Jackson)
Even when I'm old and gray, I won't be able to play it, but I'll still love the game (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
Once you are labeled 'the best' you want to stay up there, and you can't do it by loafing around. If I don't keep changing. I'm history. (Quote by - Larry Bird)
If you are afraid of failure you don't deserve to be successful! (Quote by - Charles Barkley)
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. (Quote by - John Wooden)
If you are going to take it to the bank, then you better cash it in. (Quote by - Shannon Fish)
Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. (Quote by - John Wooden)
It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it. (Quote by - John Wooden)
The thing I like about my body is that it's strong. I can move furniture around my apartment. I can ride my horse... I can play basketball. It's a well functioning machine. (Quote by - Cindy Crawford)
Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
First master the fundamentals. (Quote by - Larry Bird)
Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. (Quote by - John Wooden)
I wanted to do two things when I was growing up, about your age. I wanted to play in the NBA, and I wanted to be a businessman after my basketball career was over, and that is what I am doing now. (Quote by - Magic Johnson)
If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
The first time I shot the hook, I was in fourth grade, and I was about five feet eight inches tall. I put the ball up and felt totally at ease with the shot. I was completely confident it would go in and I've been shooting it ever since. (Quote by - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
The difference between an extraordinary player and an ordinary player is that little extra. (Quote by - Michael Burks)
Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up. (Quote by - Red Auerbach)
Winning is like deodorant – it comes up and a lot of things don't stink. (Quote by - Doc Rivers)
I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind. (Quote by - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
Simplify the game as much as possible. When you add, you must subtract. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
The most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and launch, get started, take action, move. (Quote by - John Wooden)
Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals. (Quote by - Dr. James Naismith)
We win because we play together as a team. (Quote by - John Havlicek)
Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We. (Quote by - Phil Jackson)
Your program must have an overriding purpose which is clearly visible and which teaches lessons beyond winning. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
Don't let what other people think decide who you are. (Quote by - Dennis Rodman)
You can't win if you don't play as a unit. (Quote by - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing. (Quote by - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
Don't do more than you can do, but don't do less either. (Quote by - Jeff Fletcher)
You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one. (Quote by - John Wooden)
You've got to learn the footwork, the positioning, how to box out, how to pass, how to shoot your free throws. All these things are necessary, not to be the No. 1 player in the world, but maybe you can play against him. (Quote by - Oscar Robertson)
Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success (Quote by - Henry Ford)
I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok. (Quote by - Shaquille O'Neal)
Although I wanted my players to work to win, I tried to convince them they had always won when they had done their best. (Quote by - John Wooden)
Every day you teach attitude. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
Discipline and demand without being demeaning. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
I keep both eyes on my man. The basket hasn't moved on me yet. (Quote by - Julius Erving)
Do your best when no one is looking. If you do that, then you can be successful in anything that you put your mind to. (Quote by - Bob Cousy)
When I step onto the court, I don't have to think about anything. If I have a problem off the court, I find that after I play, my mind is clearer and I can come up with a better solution. It's like therapy. It relaxes me and allows me to solve problems. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play. (Quote by - Mike Krzyzewski)
If you make every game a life and death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot. (Quote by - Dean Smith)
The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would not play Drop the Handkerchief. (Quote by - James Naismith)
There are really only two plays: Romeo and Juliet, and put the darn ball in the basket. (Quote by - Abe Lemons)
Basketball is the MTV of sports. (Quote by - Sara Levinson)
I hate them with all the hate you can hate with. Can you hate more than that? If you can, I hate them more than that. (Quote by - Tim Hardaway)
Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team. (Quote by - Scottie Pippen)
A winner is someone who recognizes his God- given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals. (Quote by - Larry Bird)
Basketball is basketball. (Quote by - Oscar Robertson)
I liked the choreography, but I didn't care for the costumes. (Quote by - Tommy Tune, on why he doesn't play basketball)
When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team. (Quote by - George Raveling)
Recognize and reward players who put the team first, not just the gifted ones. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
My life had no meaning at all. I found only brief interludes of satisfaction. It was like my whole life had been about my whole basketball career. (Quote by - Pete Maravich)
One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn't do you any good. (Quote by - Abe Lemmons)
Fans never fall asleep at our games, because they're afraid they might get hit by a pass. (Quote by - George Raveling)
Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps. (Quote by - Tiger Woods)
Prepare for every game like you just lost your last game. (Quote by - Lon Kruger)
On a player passing up an open shot: You miss 100% of the shots that you don't take (Quote by - Joe Ledbetter)
All my friends say 'I can't believe how fast you guys are, and how physical the game is. (Quote by - Ade Adepitan)
You build your program from the ideas of great coaches. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
When you watch the game, be a student of the game. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
The best teams have chemistry. They communicate with each other and they sacrifice personal glory for the common goal. (Quote by - Dave DeBusschere)
What is so fascinating about sitting around watching a bunch of pituitary cases stuff a ball through a hoop? (Quote by - Woody Allen)
My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me. (Quote by - Jim Valvano)
The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not. (Quote by - Charles Barkley)
When I was losing, they called me nuts. When I was winning they called me eccentric. (Quote by - Al McGuire)
Any American boy can be a basketball star if he grows up, up, up. (Quote by - Bill Vaughn)
Basketball is like photography, if you don't focus, all you have is the negative. (Quote by - Dan Frisby)
It's what you get from games you lose that is extremely important. (Quote by - Pat Riley)
I tell kids to pursue their basketball dreams, but I tell them to not let that be their only dream. (Quote by - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team. (Quote by - John Wooden)
Winning is overrated. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war. (Quote by - Al McGuire)
I hate it. It looks like a stickup at 7-Eleven. Five guys standing there with their hands in the air. (Quote by - Norm Sloan)
To be a team, you must be a family. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
Never understimate the heart of a champion. (Quote by - Rudy Tomjanovich)
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 (Quote by - Kobe Bryant)
There is nothing wrong with dedication and goals, but if you focus on yourself, all the lights fade away and you become a fleeting moment in life. (Quote by - Pete Maravich)
Being a part of success is more important than being personally indispensable. (Quote by - Pat Riley)
You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
You don't play against opponents. You play against the game of basketball. (Quote by - Bobby Knight)
I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character. (Quote by - John Wooden)
Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates. (Quote by - Magic Johnson)
Shout praise and whisper criticism. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best. (Quote by - Tim Duncan)
We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors. (Quote by - Weldon Drew)
It's what you learn, after you know it all, that counts. (Quote by - John Wooden)
A guy who gives you less than what he has to give is, one, telling you what he thinks of you, and two, telling you what he thinks of himself. (Quote by - Pete Carill)
I've never been afraid to fail. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
Not only is there more to life than basketball, there's a lot more to basketball than basketball. (Quote by - Phil Jackson)
Show me a good and gracious loser, and I'll show you a failure. (Quote by - Knute Rockne)
I know that I'm never as good or bad as any single performance. I've never believed my critics or my worshippers, and I've always been able to leave the game at the arena. (Quote by - Charles Barkley)
Scoring 100 points is a lot, but... I maybe could have scored 140 if they had played straight-up basketball. (Quote by - Wilt Chamberlain)
I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life. (Quote by - Isiah Thomas)
I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. (Quote by - John Wooden)
I would tell players to relax and never think about what's at stake. Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you've lost your focus. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
I look at the NBA as a football game without the helmet. (Quote by - Tom Tolbert)
I know the Virginia players are smart because you need a 1500 SAT to get in. I have to drop bread crumbs to get our players to and from class. (Quote by - George Raveling)
If you want team play, you must stress defense. Defense makes players unselfish. (Quote by - John Brady)
People ask me if I could fly, I said, yeah, for a little while. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
You have to be able to center yourself, to let all of your emotions go. Don't ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body. (Quote by - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds. (Quote by - Larry Bird)
The team is an extension of the coach. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
Never mistake activity for achievement. (Quote by - John Wooden)
In all the research you do as a coach, studying other coaches and championship-type situations, you find that all those teams combined talent with great defense. You've got to stop other teams to win. (Quote by - Pat Riley)
There is nothing more important than rebounding…don't just give it lip service. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
Some say you have to use your five best players, but I found out you win with the five that fit together best as a team. (Quote by - Red Auerbach)
It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen. (Quote by - John Wooden)
Coaching is easy. Winning is the hard part. (Quote by - Elgin Baylor)
I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok. (Quote by - Shaquille O'Neal)
Prepare for every practice like you just loss your last game. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
When the legs go, the heart and the head follow quickly behind. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either IN or you're OUT. There is no such thing as life in-between. (Quote by - Pat Riley)
The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot. (Quote by - Bill Russell)
I don't try to get players emotionally up for a game; it creates too many peaks and valleys… I strive for even keel; they will get up for the big games. (Quote by - Denny Crum)
I don't discuss basketball. I dictate basketball. I'm not interested in philosophy classes. (Quote by - Al McGuire)
This year we plan to run and shoot. Next season we hope to run and score. (Quote by - Billy Tubbs)
It is not what you teach, but what you emphasize. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
There are some remarkable parallels between basketball and politics. (Quote by - Margaret Thatcher)
Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation.Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are. (Quote by - John Wooden)
Everybody pulls for David, nobody roots for Goliath. (Quote by - Wilt Chamberlain)
What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player. (Quote by - John Wooden)
Systems win! Believe in your system, and then sell it to your players. (Quote by - Billy Donovan)
Good shooters take the shots; best shooters take most of the shots. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
Talent wins games, but team work and intelligence wins championships. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
When it's played the way is spozed to be played, basketball happens in the air; flying, floating, elevated above the floor, levitating the way oppressed peoples of this earth imagine themselves in their dreams. (Quote by - John Edgar Wideman)
It is most difficult, in my mind, to separate any success, whether it be in your profession, your family, or as in my case, in basketball, from religion. (Quote by - John Wooden)
Giving Magic the basketball is like giving Hitler an army, Jesse James a gang, or Genghis Khan a horse. (Quote by - Jim Murray)
If you don't do what's best for your body, you're the one who comes up on the short end. (Quote by - Julius Erving)
Basketball is a game that gives you every chance to be great, and puts every pressure on you to prove that you haven't got what it takes. It never takes away the chance, and it never eases up on the pressure. (Quote by - Bob Sundvold)
To win, you've got to put the ball in the macrame. (Quote by - Terry McGuire)
You never make any of the shots you never take. 87% of the ones you do take, you'll miss too. I make 110% of my shots (Quote by - Larry Bird)
The rule was No autopsy, no foul. (Quote by - Stewart Granger)
Just remember, their fans think their players are supermen. Well we're the kryptonite, and we're gonna win. (Quote by - Jim Larranaga quotes)
They run like deer, jump like deer and think like deer. (Quote by - Charles Barkley)
I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me. Failure always made me try harder next time. (Quote by - Michael Jordan)
It (coaching basketball) is kind of like wrestling a gorilla, you don't quit when you're tired, you quit when the gorilla is tired. (Quote by - Mike McDowell)
When I dunk, I put something on it. I want the ball to hit the floor before I do. (Quote by - Darryl Dawkins)
Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious. (Quote by - Charles Shackleford)
Play off your great player… great teams have a go-to player and they play off of him. (Quote by - Don Meyer)
I haven't been able to slam-dunk the basketball for the past five years. Or, for the thirty-eight years before that, either. (Quote by - Dave Barry)
