BASKETBALL QUOTES III

quotations about basketball

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The single most important aspect of coaching is running effective practices.

BOB KNIGHT

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When playing vs. man to man, the defense decides who guards who. When playing against zone, the offense decides who guards who.

BOB KNIGHT

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As I got better and better, there were a lot of double teams, and I drew a lot of defenders, so I had to learn how to pass the ball, and get it off to my teammates, because the more people that came to defend me, that means there are more openings for other players.

YAO MING

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The only important statistic is the final score.

BILL RUSSELL

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Defense should be played with your feet and your brain, not your hands.

BOB KNIGHT

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The real secret behind top athlete's genius, then, may be as esoteric and obvious and dull and profound as silence itself. The real, many-veiled answer to the question of just what goes through a great player's mind as he stands at the center of hostile crowd-noise and lines up at the free-throw that will decide the game might well be: nothing at all.

DAVID FOSTER WALLACE

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My thoughts were always that that night was the most important game in the world. Everybody in the world was watching that one game. And I had to be the best player on the court and win that game that night. That was my mentality, and it stuck with me all the way through my career.

LARRY BIRD

Tags: Larry Bird

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Being hip-hoppers, we were obliged to be obsessed with basketball.

NIKESH SHUKLA

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Basketball is a sport that involves the subtle interweaving of players at full speed to the point where they are thinking and moving as one.

PHIL JACKSON

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On a good team there are no superstars. There are great players who show they are great players by being able to play with others as a team.

RED HOLZMAN

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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.

KOBE BRYANT

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Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up.

RED AUERBACH

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

BILL RUSSELL

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But that's the thing about basketball: you don't play games on paper.

BILL SIMMONS

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Coaching is easy. Winning is the hard part.

ELGIN BAYLOR

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At any point during practice, call a timeout. Huddle the players and give them 4 or 5 specific instructions. Then send them back on the court. Wait 15 seconds and then ask them to write down the 4 or 5 things you asked them to do. It is scary how little they will recall.

BOB KNIGHT

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Basketball is a beautiful game when the five players on the court play with one heartbeat. Passing, screening, cutting, and movement away from the ball: The game can be almost balletic in its grace and simplicity.

DEAN SMITH

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Teams share the burden and divide the grief.

DOUG SMITH

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Basketball allowed me to revere my father without him knowing what I was up to. I took up basketball as a form of homage and mimicry.

PAT CONROY

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I just love the game of basketball so much. The game! I don't need the 18,000 people screaming and all the peripheral things. To me, the most enjoyable part is the practice and preparation.

BOB KNIGHT

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