Greatest Basketball Quotes

If you're not doing what is best for your body, you are the one who lose.

You got to believe in yourself. Hell, I believe I'm the best-looking guy in the world and I might be right.

I don't hate anyone, at least not for more than 48 minutes, barring overtime.

You can't win unless you learn how to lose.

If you don't do what's best for your body, you're the one who comes up on the short end.

Even when I'm old and grey, I won't be able to play it, but I'll still love the game.

I think that the team that wins game five will win the series. Unless we lose game five.

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.

I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.

Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.

I play to win, whether during practice or a real game.

They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds.

If you told me two years I would miss the greatest basketball game ever to hang out with Nathan Lane, I'd say, 'You're crazy!'

The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.

You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one.

I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed. Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.

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.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.

Basketball doesn't build character it reveals it.

To do the right thing at the right season is a great art.

What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.

If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes.

The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.

When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro.

If you go out with a girl and they say she has a great personality, she's ugly. If they tell you a guy works hard, he can't play a lick. Same thing.

I'll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it's sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.

One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.

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.

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.

One man cannot make a team.

I always laugh when people ask me about rebounding techniques. I've got a technique. It's called just go get the damn ball.

I know I'm never as good or bad as one single performance. I've never believed in my critics or my worshippers, and I've always been able to leave the game at the arena.

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

I've missed more than 9000 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.

Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.

Never mistake activity for achievement.

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.

I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.