Quotes About The Game Of Basketball

#1. The man above has given me some unbelievable abilities to play the game of basketball. I just try to take advantage of it every night. I got the trust of my teammates and my coaching staff to go in there and let it go.

LeBron James

#2. You know, I'm just 6'9 and 260. And just so happen to be very good at playing the game of basketball.

LeBron James

#3. And the game of basketball, I play, I play first off because I love it. I love to have fun. I love to run up and down the court.

Kevin Durant

#4. I won at every level - all the way since I started playing the game of basketball at nine. I've won at every level, won championships at every level. And, you know, it won't be fulfilled until I win at the highest level.

LeBron James

#5. The game of basketball is not played with throwing punches, throwing elbows.

Mo Williams

#6. I can't play the game of basketball and live my life on what other people expect me to do or what they think I should do. That doesn't make me happy. What makes me happy is being able to make plays for my teammates, to be able to represent the name on the back of my jersey.

LeBron James

#7. And I didn't fall in love with the game of basketball just because it was me playing. I fell in love with it Because I got guys like this, Like these guys every single day That push me to be the best player I can be.

Kevin Durant

#8. I learned so much from Sue about the Xs and Os of the game of basketball.

Pat Summitt

#9. The game of basketball is one thing, but the image of the game is another thing.

Earl Monroe

#10. Life for me outweighs the game of basketball.

Derek Fisher

#11. I'm a competitive person. I love the game of basketball. I'm a gym rat.

Paul Pierce

#12. I was definitely out of control, but I loved the game of basketball and I played to win and I didn't understand anything less than that. That's why I have a hard time with the young men who can't play because they went to the dentist this afternoon.

Mel Daniels

#13. I came up in a small town ghetto and I never did think I'd be a celebrity or famous athlete, I was just loving to play the game of basketball. And I worked hard at everything I did.

Moses Malone

#14. 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.

Dwyane Wade

#15. I enjoy playing at the heart of it is just a kid who really loves playing the game of basketball.

Kobe Bryant

#16. Working with all of these kids is great. It doesn't get any better than this, to come down and inspire kids who want to play the game of basketball and put smiles on their faces.

LeBron James

#17. I plan to coach at University of Louisville for as long as I can maintain the passion I have for the game of basketball. I don't want to coach anywhere else. I don't believe in anything else as much as I believe in this university and this state. I want to coach as long as they will have me.

Rick Pitino

#18. I truly love the game; I wouldn't be playing if I didn't love the game. I'm not getting paid astronomical dollars; it's truly for the love of the game of basketball.

Michael Jordan

#19. You know, God gave me a gift to do other things besides play the game of basketball.

LeBron James

#20. Not only do I admire Jordan's accomplishments and his phenomenal basketball ability, but also the way he has conducted himself on and off the court. I don't think there will ever be another player to have the same impact on the game of basketball as Michael Jordan.

Elgin Baylor

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

Bobby Knight

#22. You need a teaching coach who understands the game of basketball, not just some guy coming on the court talking about Xs and Os.

Oscar Robertson

#23. It's not just the cheerleading thing I have a problem with, it's the whole jock enchilada. I'm all for a good game of basketball in teh driveway or a killer bike ride. But when there's tackling and grunting involved
no thanks.

Linda Ellerbee

#24. In the closing seconds of every game, I want the ball in my hands for the last shot - not in anybody else's, not in anybody else's in the world.

Larry Bird

#25. Regardless of what you do put in, every game boils down to doing the things you do best and doing them over and over again.

Vince Lombardi

#26. The key to coaching is not what you do, but the way you do it. The intangibles, the motivational parts of the game are the most important facets of it.

Rick Pitino

#27. I remember one time being told I could not play in a basketball game at the College of William and Mary because I was black, even though I was playing with a United States Army team.

Walter Dean Myers

#28. Like life, basketball is messy and unpredictable. It has its way with you, no matter how hard you try to control it. The trick is to experience each moment with a clear mind and open heart. When you do that, the game - and life - will take care of itself.

Phil Jackson

#29. He [Phil Jackson] is such a basketball genius in terms of the details of the game, the little nuances of the game and the rhythm of the game.

Kobe Bryant

#30. A lot of players know how to play the game, but they really don't know how to play the game, if you know what I mean. They can put the ball in the hoop, but I see things before they even happen. You know how a guy can make his team so much better? That's one thing I learned from watching Jordan.

LeBron James

#31. On how to make the game more exciting - Eliminate the referees, raise the basket four feet, double the size of the basketball, limit the height of the players to 5 feet 9 inches, bring back the centre jump, allow taxi drivers in for free and allow the players to carry guns.

Al McGuire

#32. Everyone on the bench stands for the man coming out of the game.

Dean Smith

#33. If one of our players gets his second foul in the first half, then he must come out of the game and not re-enter until the second half. To play defense and not foul is an art that must be mastered if you are going to be successful.

Chuck Daly

#34. Evaluate wins and losses objectively, focusing more on effort and execution than on the outcome of the game

Morgan Wootten

#35. Baseball is a team game but, at the same time, it's a very lonely game: unlike in soccer or basketball, where players roam around, in baseball everyone has their little plot of the field to tend. When the action comes to you, the spotlight is on you but no one can help you.

Chad Harbach

#36. In every game, there's three teams out there. There's the two basketball teams and the team of officials. If the two teams are evenly matched, it can come down to number of possessions. If one out-of-bounds call goes the wrong way, that can be the difference.

Tom Heinsohn

#37. We old athletes carry the disfigurements and markings of contests remembered only by us and no one else. Nothing is more lost than a forgotten game.

Pat Conroy

#38. I have an incredible amount of basketball knowledge, and I think a lot of that is derived from having a Hall of Fame college basketball coach who was very knowledgeable of the game and I had a great high school coach who was also very knowledgeable.

Alonzo Mourning

#39. I am a basketball junkie, and as a product of the great basketball state of Kansas, I have watched many a ball game between the University of Kansas Jayhawks and the Tar Heels.

Sheri L. Dew

#40. I played baseball, and that's pretty much it. Basketball came late, this was, basketball was the sport that I tried to master, I kind of mastered baseball, so basketball was one of those things where I wanted to master this game, so that's why I probably play it the way I do.

Eric Williams

#41. Part of the charm of basketball lies in the fact that it's a simple game to understand. Players race up and down a fairly small area indoors and stuff the ball into a ring with Madonna's dress hanging on it.

Dan Jenkins

#42. The caliber of play suffered and attendance declined year by year. Interest in college football was exploding, and there was this new game called basketball.

John Thorn

#43. Basketball, more than any other sport, is a team game ... about the thousands of small, unselfish acts, the sacrifices on the part of the players that result in team building.

Dean Smith

#44. Remember that basketball is a game of habits. If you make the other guy deviate from his habits, you've got him

Bill Russell

#45. In many ways, my job in soccer was like my job in basketball now. I had to protect the goal. That was the name of the game, not letting the other team score.

Hakeem Olajuwon

#46. Setting goals for your game is an art. The trick is in setting them at the right level - neither too low nor too high. A good goal should be lofty enough to inspire hard work, yet realistic enough to provide solid hope of attainment.

Greg Norman

#47. I don't know hardly any of the players who have the in-between game like me, who can go to any position on the court.

Oscar Robertson

#48. Most people forget that Danny Biasone was the Wilbur Wright of basketball. Because he invented the 24-second clock, the game took off. Yet he was a man who never played the game.

Dolph Schayes

#49. On his 916th game as coach at University of Alabama - I've been here so long that when I got here the Dead Sea wasn't even sick.

Winfrey Sanderson

#50. 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.

Henry Iba

#51. The first professional game that I ever played remains, to me, the most exciting moment of my professional career.

Julius Erving

#52. The fundamentals of the game are the same wherever you go: pass, dribble, shoot, defend, rebound, screen, play hard and together

Terry Stotts

#53. Look, I think you should promote the game, but I think you should make it what it ought to be. Not some kind of a side-show.

Oscar Robertson

#54. The game of business used to be like football: size mattered. Then it changed to basketball: speed and agility. Today, business is more like chess. Customer priorities change continually, and the signals given by these changes are vital clues to the next cycle of growth ...

Adrian Slywotzky

#55. Nick Nelson was first brandished with the moniker "the last of the nice guys" after leaving a pickup basketball game in 6th grade to help an elderly lady he didn't know, carry her groceries 17 blocks to her house.

Matt Micros

#56. It's fair to say that Jews dominated basketball and that started in the 30s in all the big cities. I think it was simply because Jews lived in ghettoes and basketball is a great schoolyard game. You don't need a lot of space or equipment and you can adapt it to how many players you have.

Dolph Schayes

#57. Basketball Rule #1

In this game of life
your family is the court
and the ball is your heart.
No matter how good you are,
no matter how down you get,
always leave
your heart
on the court.

Kwame Alexander

#58. On a basketball court, five players were in the middle of an intense game. They wore assortment of jerseys from different American teams, and they all seemed keen to win - grunting and snarling at each other, stealing the ball and pushing.
Oh ... and the players were all baboons.

Rick Riordan

#59. Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It's stupid. It doesn't teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don't know how to post. They don't know the fundamentals of the game. It's stupid.

Kobe Bryant

#60. The one thing I learned about myself going back and watching tapes of all the losses that we've had is that I'm physically capable of doing this and dominating the game, but the mental part was not there. I don't know if it comes with age, but I had to learn to be mentally tough.

Lisa Leslie

#61. It's part of my game, getting to the free-throw line and being aggressive. If you say that I get superstar calls or I get babied by the refs, that's just taking away from how I play. That's disrespectful to me.

Kevin Durant

#62. I've always been taught that basketball is a team game and greater than the sum of its parts.

Len Elmore

#63. In going for the last shot of the game most people wait too long to take the shot. Give yourself a chance to get the first shot and tap the ball in. Your players are normally inside the defense.

Norm Sloan

#64. It's kind of like ... It's kind of like playin' a basketball game. I am there and the other player is there, and it's just the two of us and I put the other player's body in my van. And I am the winner.

Chris Onstad

#65. It's fun to play defense. It's fun to watch the opponent sweat on offense, start complaining to the officials, and eventually be taken out of the game because he's making so many offensive mistakes

Maury John

#66. The truth of basketball is done in competition and fundamentals and team, but there's a lot of other junk that goes around the game.

George Karl

#67. You become a champion as a team. I understand that. I know the history of the game.

LeBron James

#68. I played in Joe Louis in a playoff game. I played there when the roof caved in for half a season. The facility is great for basketball because it goes straight up, so you feel like the fans are on top of you.

Bill Laimbeer

#69. I'm a leader. I'm the leader of this team, and they look for me at any point in the game, and that's not just scoring-wise, I do other things.

LeBron James

#70. I have a plan of action, but the game is a game of adjustments.

Mike Krzyzewski

#71. Just because I had a good game doesn't change who I am,
my identity is in Christ and not in basketball, I love playing basketball and it's my job but at the same time I recognize that I'm a sinner and that's not gonna change regardless of how well I play on the court

Jeremy Lin

#72. My first motion capture game was with Sony - 'NBA: The Life.' It was very ahead of its time. Brandon Akiaten, he was the writer and director. He had a real vision of what this game was meant to be; it was a basketball game where I was the Jerry Maguire sports agent type guy. And it was great!

Nolan North

#73. Bill Russell is one of the great names in basketball, an all-American ... and the only athlete to ever win an NCAA Championship, an Olympic Gold Medal, and a professional championship all in the same year-1956 ... But Bill Russell had this one problem: He threw up before every game.

John Eliot

#74. Basketball was always a game to me. One of the greatest things in life for me was to be able to play what I loved dearly and get paid for it. So it was always a game to me and that's how I perceived everything.

Larry Bird

#75. Basketball is a team game. But that doesn't mean all five players should have the same amount of shots.

Dean Smith

#76. You know what the game of golf is, don't you? It's basketball for people who can't jump and chess for people who can't think.

Tom Robbins

#77. I never knew what Amazon was. I've never seen any of those series, even on cable. I've never seen The Sopranos, or Mad Men. I'm out every night and when I come home, I watch the end of the baseball or basketball game, and there's Charlie Rose and I go to sleep.

Woody Allen

#78. [The movies] glamorize game day a little bit too much. It's such a focus. They miss a lot of the nuts and bolts, and the time that goes into the preparation each week, or each couple of days in basketball.

Vince Kehres

#79. I want to be one of the best players in the game.

Kevin Durant

#80. I know the game well. I'm a student of basketball; I know what it takes to win.

Kenyon Martin

#81. The only thing I pay attention to with free throws is what a guy does in the final four minutes of a game. If you can improve players' self-esteem and confidence, get them to relax, teach visualization and routine, they will shoot as well, or better, with the pressure on.

John Calipari

#82. The beautiful thing about the game of golf is you can play good golf and compete well into your later years, and you can't do this in basketball or football or baseball. But in golf, it's a longer live sport.

Tom Watson

#83. I don't have much of an attention span for TV - I nod off during the basketball playoffs - but when I watch 'Game of Thrones' on On Demand, I'm glued to the set. It's mystical and addictive. Tyrion Lannister, that's my man.

Steve Harvey

#84. Basketball is a game of sacrificing yourself for the next guy, being a team that takes good shots, and taking the right shots

David Blatt

#85. In an individual sport, yes, you have to win titles. Baseball's different. But basketball, hockey? One person can control the tempo of a game, can completely alter the momentum of a series. There's a lot of great individual talent.

Kobe Bryant

#86. 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.

Herb Kohl

#87. You have to be able to separate business from the love of the game. There were a lot of decisions made business-wise that I wasn't happy with, and I took a lot of blame over the years. But you have to be able to separate that from the love you have for the game.

Kobe Bryant

#88. I had no experience with broadcasting basketball games, so I took a tape recorder and went to a playground where there was a summer league, and I stood up in the top of the stands and I called the game.

Ed Bradley

#89. Basketball is just something else to do, another facet of life. I'm going to be a success at whatever I choose because of my preparation. By the time the game starts, the outcome has been decided. I never think about having a bad game because I have prepared.

David Robinson

#90. I love the flow of the game. There's a certain fluidity to basketball. I don't enjoy watching baseball or football in the same way.

Adam Yauch

#91. When you watch the game, be a student of the game.

Don Meyer

#92. Conroy writes that, while part of him was following the basketball game from the bench, the other part, an embassy of a completely sovereign nation, would fling its doors open to the most authentic part of me.

Pat Conroy

#93. I've done a lot of basketball drills, not a whole lot of competitive stuff. I have basically been in the gym everyday working on my game, working on the time off that I've had from the game, just getting myself prepared mentally and physically for the season.

Grant Hill

#94. When I lose the sense of motivation and the sense to prove something as a basketball player, it's time for me to move away from the game.

Michael Jordan

#95. The courts don't remove children from their home because the child underperformed at school or required extra long walks or a game of basketball in order to blow off the steam all 5-year-olds have. It's because the parents were unfit, not the kids.

Angela Featherstone

#96. The clothes do not match my personality. I'm more of a very conservative, blue-blazer kind of guy. But as far as my personality, it's a lot of hot-dog mustard - have a lot of a fun and a lot of excitement. I feel like I'm 68; I act like I'm 12, talking about a game of basketball.

Dick Vitale

#97. Well, (Michael) Jordan was definitely one of the kings of the game. There's no question that he was one of the more dominant figures. If you look at the top ten players of all time, he was certainly one of the most dominant guys.

Dominique Wilkins