Top 92 The Best Basketball Quotes
#1. The best basketball announcer is one who allows you to close your eyes.
Larry Bird
#2. Playing in the playoffs is the best basketball in the world, and if you can learn under that pressure, succeed under that pressure, it gives you more confidence the next year.
Tony Parker
#3. Scientists contribute in a variety of ways and I don't think I can singular one even including [Albert] Einstein, that I can say that he's the best. We don't work like the best basketball player and the best musician and so on. Science is a collective effort.
Ahmed H. Zewail
#4. Michael Jordon may have been the best basketball player in history, but he couldn't have won six NBA titles without a team.
Mark E. Hyman
#5. 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.
Kobe Bryant
#6. Great players never look in the mirror and think I'm a great basketball player. You ask yourself, Am I the best player I can be?
Michael Jordan
#8. Earl "The Goat" Manigault was probably the greatest basketball player of all time, but Michael Jordan is universally regarded as the best ever. This is because The Goat only did it at Rucker Park, while Michael did it where it mattered: in front of the world.
Tucker Max
#9. I'm someone who always comes on the court no matter what's going on in my life. It's all about basketball and my teammates and my team. I don't let any distractions in, and I bring my best every night, regardless of what's going on or what people are talking about.
Kris Humphries
#10. The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.
Al McGuire
#11. There are people in this life for whom even the best of things don't work out. They could wear cashmere suits and still look like tramps; be very rich but badly in debt; be tall but lousy at basketball.
Martin Page
#12. The best teams are team in any sport that lose themselves in the team. The individuals lose their identity. And their identities come about as a result of being in the team first.
Mike Krzyzewski
#13. 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
#14. Leaders have to search for the heart on a team, because the person who has it can bring out the best in everybody else.
Mike Krzyzewski
#15. Fatherhood will put a man through a lot, but it's a tremendous job, the best in the world - even better than playing basketball.
Derek Fisher
#16. The highest level of achievement is attained by the teams with the best conditioned players
Jack Ramsay
#18. The people that are surrounding me have my best interest.
Blake Griffin
#19. Once practice starts, we work hard, and that's the best conditioning there is. Everything counts. Every little thing counts. Run hard, play hard, go after the ball hard, guard hard. If you play soft (what I call signing a 'non-aggression pact' with your teammates), you won't ever get into shape.
Pete Carril
#20. Your best athletes might give basketball a try just when they think, geez, this might be something that pays off for me in the end.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
#21. Being the best right now doesn't do anything for my feathers.
Shaquille O'Neal
#22. I'm the NBA's best NFL player, and I've always been the sexiest 7-footer in the NBA - for 12 years running.
Shaquille O'Neal
#23. Doing the best you are capable of doing is victory in itself, and less than that is defeat.
John Wooden
#24. 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
#25. I've decided to listen to my doctors and get the procedure I need on my knee. USA Basketball said I had to do what was best for me. They want me to be obviously as healthy as possible so I can continue to play this game at a high level.
Dwyane Wade
#26. For five years I've felt like the best prostitute in a high-class whorehouse. But all the other girls get paid more than I do.
Dennis Rodman
#28. Your best players have to unite and inspire the group ... otherwise, they'll divide the group
Jeff Van Gundy
#29. Set the goal and work all days for it, until you achieve, I want to be a champion, the best!
Kevin Durant
#30. Butch, you come from DeWitt Clinton. There are five thousand brothers in that school. You're the best there. You've been all-city two years in a row. How bad can you be? You come with me and we'll make nice music.
Al McGuire
#31. I just want to try to ignore the scrutiny and all the distractions and just play hard basketball and let the best come ... Improving game by game and trying to improve my game is what I want to do.
Andrew Bogut
#32. Until my senior year, baseball and basketball were my best sports; and even when I was a senior, I still wanted to play baseball professionally. But the family wanted me to go to college, and I guess I agreed with them, or else I would have accepted some of the offers I got.
Joe Namath
#33. Those to whom defense is not important will have the best seat in the game
Rick Majerus
#34. I always believe I can beat the best, achieve the best. I always see myself in the top position.
Serena Williams
#35. 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
#36. Georgetown. Alonzo was the guy I always heard about. I've always wanted to measure myself against the best.
Shaquille O'Neal
#37. Every little kid that steps on the court or the field has aspirations to go pro. I think being a pro basketball player is the best job. The thing I had to realize was that I can't do every dream that I have.
Brian McKnight
#38. We love playing together and we love adversity. You know, back-to-back, the two best teams in the East.
Steve Nash
#39. Bill Russell helped make my dream a better dream because when you play with the best, you know you have to play your best.
Wilt Chamberlain
#41. The best way to build team chemistry is the way Rupp used to substitute, when they fouled out.
Dean Smith
#42. In 1981, at age 31, I was voted the best player in basketball, and the most valuable player in the league.
Julius Erving
#43. The goal in life is just the same as in basketball: make the effort to do the best you are capable of doing
John Wooden
#44. Heart in champions has to do with the depth of our motivation and how well your mind and body react to pressure - that is, being able to do what you do best under maximum pain and stress.
Bill Russell
#46. Whatever I lack in size and strength and speed, I kind of make up for in being grittier. When it comes to something like basketball I'm definitely not the best guy on the court, but I love elbowing and pushing people out or boxing them out.
Steven Yeun
#47. I'm not gonna be bad at anything, and I want to actually be the best at anything I'm doing. So if I'm playing basketball, if I'm taking the SATs, like, there's a competitive spirit behind it. With production, it's the same thing.
J. Cole
#48. Play hard, learn as much as I can and do what I do best. The rest will take care of itself I think.
Carmelo Anthony
#49. A key basketball skill is imagery. The best players "see" situations before they happen so they can be prepared
Jack Ramsay
#50. The players have no real self-esteem when it comes to putting the best image out there in a real competitive fashion.
Oscar Robertson
#51. The man that got me into collecting sneakers in the first place was the man they call Michael Jordan. He was the one who kind of exposed me to the sneaker world - he was my favorite basketball player, and he had the best shoes.
Macklemore
#52. I don't pay attention to what others are doing. I feel strongly that if I have correct goals and the determination to keep pursuing them the best way I know how, everything else falls into line.
Dan Dierdorf
#53. I found the bench to be the greatest ally when I had to make individuals comply with what was best for the team
John Wooden
#54. This is a team game and one man doesn't win and one man doesn't lose. In the end, the best team usually wins.
Wilt Chamberlain
#55. I haven't always recruited for the best talent. I've taken a few guys who would fit for different reasons. Leadership. Toughness
Tom Izzo
#56. There's a misconception about teamwork. Teamwork is the ability to have different thoughts about things; it's the ability to argue and stand up and say loud and strong what you feel. But in the end, it's also the ability to adjust to what is the best for the team.
Tom Landry
#57. Don't worry about being cool. Worry about being the best
Jeff Van Gundy
#58. The problem with kids these days is they don't have enough fun stuff to do. When I was stationed with my family in Germany, youth basketball programs gave me something to strive to do my best at.
Shaquille O'Neal
#59. I'm one of the best defenders to ever play basketball, so I'm still the first option on defense.
Metta World Peace
#60. Your best player has to set a tone of intolerance for anything that gets in the way of winning
Jeff Van Gundy
#61. The best part is if you dunk on someone at home and they show it on the replay!
Blake Griffin
#63. Our offensive philosophy is to simply find a way to get the ball into the hands of our team's best player.
Kelvin Sampson
#64. If America is the pursuit of happiness, the best way to pursue happiness is to help other people.
George Lucas
#65. My goal was just to try and be the best player on my high school team, and look where I am now. And that was still my goal as a young kid, just to try and be a little better than my brother was.
Larry Bird
#66. Mental Toughness is doing the right thing for the team when it's not the best thing for you
Bill Belichick
#67. Everywhere I've been, I've been the best player. I love being a leader, and I love being the best. I just want to get better. It's not about being cocky or selfish or anything like that. It's just how I am.
LeBron James
#68. Magic Johnson is the best player who plays on the ground, and Michael Jordan is the best player who plays in the air.
John Paxson
#69. I'm playing against great players, playing against the best in the world. The competition-that's what I've always wanted.
Kobe Bryant
#70. The worst day coaching is better than the best day doing anything else
Don Meyer
#72. On the best tactic when playing alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar- Just give him the ball.
Magic Johnson
#73. I viewed it as a business, but I always viewed it as a game. An opportunity to show my skills, my basketball skills, amongst the best in the world.
Michael Jordan
#74. Basketball is what got me out of the projects. It got my momma the house she never had, the car she never had. Nobody is going to get the best of me. You might score more points than me, but you're going to know you were in a dogfight.
Kenyon Martin
#75. You don't have to be Wilt Chamberlain to get into the Basketball Hall of Fame. If you don't have a sweet turnaround jumper from 18 feet, the best route to the Hall is fatherhood. Daniel Biasone, aka the 'father of the 24-second clock,' made the cut.
Brendan I. Koerner
#76. Put your two best players away from the ball and bring it back to them.
Don Meyer
#77. I've always thought basketball was the best sport, although it wasn't the sport I was best at. It was just the most fun to watch.
Jack Nicholson
#78. We may not be the best conditioned team in the country, but our players think they are.
John Wooden
#79. Sometimes the best recruits are the ones you don't get.
Don Meyer
#80. I wanted to the best player in the state - [the best] the area has ever seen. That's always been my goal. Guys like Elgin Baylor, Adrian Dantley and Dave Bing, it's tough to pass those guys. So I'm studying, working. My project's not over yet. Hopefully, I get there.
Kevin Durant
#81. I want to be one of the best players in the game.
Kevin Durant
#82. The best teams play for each other, not with each other
Jeff Van Gundy
#83. Sport is the best means of communication between people from different religions and countries.
Yao Ming
#84. My teammates at Duke - all of them, black and white - were a band of brothers who came together to play at the highest level for the best coach in basketball.
Grant Hill
#85. A big market is something that doesn't really concern me too much. It's cool to think about, it's good for off-the-court deals. But I'm more of a basketball player. That's what I want to be known as. And this is the best place for me to play basketball. I'm glad I'm here.
Kevin Durant
#86. My dream has become a reality now, and it's the best feeling I've ever had.
LeBron James
#87. When your best player puts it on the line every day, the other guys can't cut corners
George Karl
#88. To miss one year is a long time. I've never been in this situation before, and I'm getting as much information as I can about my foot, to see what's the best for me and best for the Rockets.
Yao Ming
#89. The best teams have chemistry. They communicate with each other and they sacrifice personal glory for a common goal.
Dave DeBusschere
#90. The best competition I have is against myself to become better
John Wooden
#91. Good shooters take the shots; best shooters take most of the shots.
Don Meyer
#92. A lot of people talk about the Fab Five, and they were wonderful, one of the best teams you'll ever see in college basketball. But the '89 team is the best one to ever play at Michigan in my opinion because they won the national championship. Winning a championship is winning a championship.
Trey Burke
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