Basketball Quotes - Page 39

I love teaching I think more than anything. It's the opportunity to just teach young people and teach the game. You teach more than basketball. You teach life skills. The teaching part of it is something that I am passionate about. I look forward to every practice. A lot of people say well, I enjoy coaching, but I see myself as more as a teacher.

I'd like to think that the nature of the two teams - Boston being a championship team over the years and the Lakers, same thing - was a lot bigger than Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.

I realize that I'm black, but I like to be viewed as a person, and this is everybody's wish.

The people at the top don't work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.

I think probably one of the coolest things was when I went to play basketball at Rucker Park in Harlem. First of all, who would think that Larry the Cable Guy would go to Harlem to play basketball? And I was received like a rock star. It was amazing! There were people everywhere. There were guys walking by yelling, Git r done!

The Black Mamba collection of watches is me: It is my alter ego, so to speak. As I mentioned before, it is sharp, cutting edge and sleek which are characteristics I try to apply when I’m out there on the basketball court.

They're really aggressive. They're like roaches on bread - you drop some on the floor and, boom, they're on it.

I'm just trying to grow. That's one thing I told myself is, 'Don't worry about who people say is the best player'.

This is a mind over matter thing. We have to find it within ourselves to play for two hours. We love the game, so it's not like we're doing something we hate. We're doing something we love.

When we went up against teams that were better, I just hoped that we could steal the victories.

I was latching on to something that was part of my heritage, because many of the slaves who were brought here were Moslems.

Your mind is what makes everything else work.

What I can do is to go out and talk about the problems and solutions, make people aware of the scope of the problems, get them to become advocates for a turnaround, and convince them to develop an action plan, targeted to their community, to deal with young people. [They need to] find out what the kids want to do - dances, midnight-basketball leagues.

Never mistake activity for achievement.

If you are honest with yourself and can look into a mirror and believe that you have given 100 percent, you should feel proud. If you cannot, then there is more work to be done.

Name 12 players better than me.

Winning teams at the NBA level, the college level, and the high school level all play team basketball. Championship teams have five players on the same page at all times.

We are not going to play them; they are going to play us.

I don't think Michael had to retire for us to get the spotlight, because when you win, it commands attention.

Meditation practice is like piano scales, basketball drills, ballroom dance class. Practice requires discipline; it can be tedious; it is necessary. After you have practiced enough, you become more skilled at the art form itself. You do not practice to become a great scale player or drill champion. You practice to become a musician or athlete. Likewise, one does not practice meditation to become a great meditator. We meditate to wake up and live, to become skilled at the art of living.

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.

Winning a postseason game is like winning five regular season games. There is just no feeling like it. Everything is magnified. Every free throw, turnover, shot and play.

Most of my learning and philosophy regarding coaching basketball was developed after great frustration.

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.

I felt like calling attention to AIDS. I had the AIDS ribbon colored into my hair during the playoffs in '95.