quotations about basketball
I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career.
I've lost almost 300 games.
26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed.
I've failed over and over and over again in my life.
And that is why I succeed.
MICHAEL JORDAN
Nike Culture: The Sign of the Swoosh
An acrobatic dunk will make it onto SportsCenter. A simple, unspectacular bounce pass in the rhythm of the offense will not. System basketball has been replaced by players who want to be the system.
PHIL JACKSON
The Last Season
I don't believe in statistics. There are too many factors that can't be measured. You can't measure a ballplayer’s heart.
RED AUERBACH
Harvard Business Review, Mar. 1987
Remember that basketball is a game of habits. If you make the other guy deviate from his habits, you've got him.
BILL RUSSELL
attributed, Hoops of Steel
They said you have to use your five best players but I found you win with the five who fit together the best.
RED AUERBACH
attributed, Winning Words
I think it's very difficult for one man to beat you. Chamberlain once popped off, he says, "Give me five guys named Joe and I'll beat anybody around here." And they got him five guys on a playground and beat the hell out of him. It's not a one man game.
RED AUERBACH
Basketball Man
I don’t need too much. Glamour and all that stuff don’t excite me. I am just glad I have the game of basketball in my life.
LEBRON JAMES
interview, Jun. 14, 2003
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.
CARMELLO ANTHONY
Inside Hoops, Jun. 14, 2003
Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don't feel like doing them.
JULIUS ERVING
attributed, The Comprehensive Guide to Careers in Sports
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.
DEAN SMITH
attributed, You Vs You: Sports Psychology for Life
My best moment in the league came when I scored my first bucket. Against Cleveland. I stole the ball and made a layup. I thought, If I never play another game again, it'll be in the record. Two points. Gilbert Arenas was in the NBA.
GILBERT ARENAS
Esquire, Apr. 2010
Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God's way to say nobody's perfect.
SHAQUILLE O'NEAL
"32 Famous Basketball Quotes", thoughtco
Basketball, unlike football with its prescribed routes, is an improvisational game, similar to jazz. If someone drops a note, someone else must step into the vacuum and drive the beat that sustains the team.
PHIL JACKSON
The Last Season
What's so fascinating about sitting around watching a bunch of pituitary cases stuff a ball through a hoop.
WOODY ALLEN
Annie Hall
Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.
MICHAEL JORDAN
Basketball Hall of Fame induction speech, 2009
A player who makes the team great is more valuable than a great player.
JOHN WOODEN
attributed, Team Work: Rediscovering the Essence of Basketball
The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.
PHIL JACKSON
attributed, Teamwork and Teamplay: Games and Activities for Building and Training Teams
I've always believed no matter how many shots I miss, I'm going to make the next one.
ISAIAH THOMAS
attributed, You Vs You: Sports Psychology for Life
You got to be lucky. Like, for example, one time in the seventh game of a playoff, somebody took a shot -- I think it was Nelson or Ramsey or Sam -- and it hit the backboard, hit the rim, rolled around, went in, and made me a hell of a coach. You know what I mean?
RED AUERBACH
Esquire, Dec. 2000
Every season is a journey. Every journey is a lifetime.
MIKE KRZYZEWSKI
Leading with the Heart