Basketball quotes
3.4K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside basketball — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"My dad was a huge basketball influence in my life on and off the court. Playing for him and having him around, having him push me harder than maybe another coach would have was a huge blessing for me. Getting to play with my brother was an unreal experience at Oklahoma, in college, it's some of the funnest times I've had in basketball, and I'll cherish those memories forever."
"Once you become complacent and once you're happy with your performance or whatever it is, I don't think you'll get better as quickly."
"I recruit hungry kids who love the game and want to get better and feel they have more questions than answers"
"I'm still waiting for perfection. In the meantime, I'll settle for persistence"
"I just wanted to set a good example. I wanted to do things that I hadn't done before. My whole thing was to just try to be professional. I think when you work hard, good things happen, so obviously, because we're going to the Finals."
"Experience is everything. It means so much because it enabled me to learn the game even faster. 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."
"I have a certain taste, and I might be like, 'I like this,' when other people are like, 'I can't wear that.' And in basketball, I might be able to do things other guys might not."
"Evidence is conclusive that your self-talk has a direct bearing on your performance."
"You know, God gave me a gift to do other things besides play the game of basketball."
"Maybe my pain was my motivation."
"The only thing on my mind right now is trying to win the whole thing."
"A long list. From getting cut from the high school basketball team, to getting fired from jobs, getting credit cards rejected and cut up. Rejection has only been a distraction, not a roadblock. “Every no gets me closer to a yes,” was the saying I used to use."
"Other than my parents, no one had a bigger influence on my life than Coach Smith. He was more than a coach – he was my mentor, my teacher, my second father. Coach was always there for me whenever I needed him and I loved him for it. In teaching me the game of basketball, he taught me about life. My heart goes out to Linnea and their kids. We've lost a great man who had an incredible impact on his players, his staff and the entire UNC family."
"Being afraid on the court, means you're not confident of your skills"
"The good part about being famous is being able to help people. The hard part is every day you have to be in a good mood, because that is what people expect. You learn to get good at it."
"The most important thing is team morale."
"Everyone on the bench stands for the man coming out of the game."
"The last five or six days, I've been running. The last two days, I've been running pretty hard. Everybody's got to be someplace."
"[When] I was young and I listened to everything - I took everything to heart. I didn't really realize how much people want to talk badly about you when you're down, or kick you when you're down. As basketball players, people think everybody's ultra-confident. But that's not the case."
"My goal is to let people see who I am as a person, not just a basketball player. Many people see athletes in a certain way - flat and one dimensional. I want to change that view."
