Basketball Quotes

Inspirational basketball quotes can serve as great motivation to athletes and coaches of all ages. These inspiring basketball quotes are sorted alphabetically by the author’s last name. You’ll find motivational basketball quotes, funny basketball quotes, famous basketball quotes, and inspirational basketball quotes. If you know any basketball quotes that you’d like to share, please submit them through our “Contact Us” page.

It is not how big you are, it’s how big you play.
Author Unknown

Habits are first cobwebs, then cables.
Author Unknown

When you’re through improving, you’re through.
Author Unknown

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass; it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.
Author Unknown

The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle.
Author Unknown

Pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit.
Author Unknown

The man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.
Author Unknown

Losers quit when they’re tired. Winners quit when they’ve won.
Author Unknown

My responsibility is getting all my players playing for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back.
Author Unknown

If you think small things don’t matter, think of the last game you lost by one point.
Author Unknown

Basketball doesn’t build character it reveals it.
Author Unknown

I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

You have to be able to center yourself, to let all of your emotions go. Don’t ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

We try to stress the little things because little things lead to big things.
Steve Alford

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

Some say you have to use your five best players, but I found out you win with the five that fit together best as a team.
Red Auerbach

I know that I’m never as good or bad as any single performance. I’ve never believed my critics or my worshippers, and I’ve always been able to leave the game at the arena.
Charles Barkley

The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not.
Charles Barkley

If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!
Charles Barkley

I haven’t been able to slam-dunk the basketball for the past five years. Or, for the thirty-eight years before that, either.
Dave Barry

Coaching is easy. Winning is the hard part.
Elgin Baylor

What you specifically teach is what your players will do best.
Dick Bennett

Practice to beat the best.
Dick Bennett

When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro.
Larry Bird

You never make any of the shots you never take. 87% of the ones you do take, you’ll miss too. I make 110% of my shots.
Larry Bird

Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.
Larry Bird

A winner is someone who recognizes his God- given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.
Larry Bird

Criticize on defense and encourage on offense.
John Brady

If you want team play, you must stress defense. Defense makes players unselfish.
John Brady

The trouble with officials is they just don’t care who wins.
Tommy Canterbury

A guy who gives you less than what he has to give is, one, telling you what he thinks of you, and two, telling you what he thinks of himself.
Pete Carill

The two ingredients in success in basketball are playing hard and playing intelligently.
Pete Carill

Everybody pulls for David, nobody roots for Goliath.
Wilt Chamberlain

Do your best when no one is looking. If you do that, then you can be successful in anything that you put your mind to.
Bob Cousy

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.
Denny Crum

When I dunk, I put something on it. I want the ball to hit the floor before I do.
Darryl Dawkins

Systems win! Believe in your system, and then sell it to your players.
Billy Donovan

We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors.
Weldon Drew

Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.
Tim Duncan

If you don’t do what’s best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end.
Julius Erving

If you are going to take it to the bank, then you better cash it in.
Shannon Fish

Basketball is like photography, if you don’t focus, all you have is the negative.
Dan Frisby

We win because we play together as a team.
John Havlicek

I keep both eyes on my man. The basket hasn’t moved on me yet.
Julius Erving

Not only is there more to life than basketball, there’s a lot more to basketball than basketball.
Phil Jackson

Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.
Phil Jackson

Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates.
Magic Johnson

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.
Michael Jordan

I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
Michael Jordan

I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win.
Michael Jordan

Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.
Michael Jordan

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.
Michael Jordan

My heroes are and were my parents. I can’t see having anyone else as my heroes.
Michael Jordan

My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.
Michael Jordan

If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.
Michael Jordan

I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don’t do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results.
Michael Jordan

There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren’t willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
Michael Jordan

I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me. Failure always made me try harder next time.
Michael Jordan

I’ve never been afraid to fail.
Michael Jordan

I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot. When you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.
Michael Jordan

You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.
Michael Jordan

Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.
Michael Jordan

People ask me if I could fly, I said, “yeah, for a little while.”
Michael Jordan

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.
Michael Jordan

The key is not the “will to win” – everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.
Bobby Knight

You don’t play against opponents. You play against the game of basketball.
Bobby Knight

Believe that the loose ball that you are chasing has your name wirtten on it.
Mike Krzyzewski

Prepare for every game like you just lost your last game.
Lon Kruger

One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn’t do you any good.
Abe Lemmons

There are really only two plays: Romeo and Juliet, and put the darn ball in the basket.
Abe Lemmons

Basketball is the MTV of sports.
Sara Levinson

You always have to give 100%,because if you don’t someone, somewhere will give 100% and they will beat you when you meet.
Ed Macauley

I never thought I’d lead the NBA in rebounding, but I got a lot of help from my team-mates – they did a lot of missing.
Moses Malone

They don’t pay you a million dollars for two-hand chest passes.
Pete Maravich

There is nothing wrong with dedication and goals, but if you focus on yourself, all the lights fade away and you become a fleeting moment in life.
Pete Maravich

Winning is overrated. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war.
Al McGuire

When I was losing, they called me nuts. When I was winning they called me eccentric.
Al McGuire

Help one kid at a time. He’ll maybe go back and help a few more.
Al McGuire

I don’t discuss basketball. I dictate basketball. I’m not interested in philosophy classes.
Al McGuire

To win, you’ve got to put the ball in the macramé.
Terry McGuire

Shout praise and whisper criticism.
Don Meyer

In practice, don’t just run basketball drills, teach the players how to play basketball.
Don Meyer

Successful programs consist of people working hard, working together, while never worrying about who gets the credit.

Don Meyer

To be a team, you must be a family.

Don Meyer

Discipline and demand without being demeaning.

Don Meyer

Recognize and reward players who put the team first, not just the gifted ones.

Don Meyer

Simplify the game as much as possible. When you add, you must subtract.

Don Meyer

There is nothing more important than rebounding…don’t just give it lip service.

Don Meyer

It is not what you teach, but what you emphasize.

Don Meyer

Good shooters take the shots; best shooters take most of the shots.

Don Meyer

You build your program from the ideas of great coaches.

Don Meyer

Play off your great player… great teams have a go-to player and they play off of him.

Don Meyer

Prepare for every practice like you just loss your last game.

Don Meyer

Your program must have an overriding purpose which is clearly visible and which teaches lessons beyond winning.

Don Meyer

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

Don Meyer

The team is an extension of the coach.

Don Meyer

When the legs go, the heart and the head follow quickly behind.

Don Meyer

Every day you teach attitude.

Don Meyer

Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals.
James Naismith

I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.
Shaquille O’Neal

Sometimes a player’s greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.
Scottie Pippen

When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team.
George Raveling

Fans never fall asleep at our games, because they’re afraid they might get hit by a pass.
George Raveling

I know the Virginia players are smart because you need a 1500 SAT to get in. I have to drop bread crumbs to get our players to and from class.
George Raveling

There are only two options regarding commitment; you’re either in or you’re out. There’s no such thing as life in-between.
Pat Riley

It’s what you get from games you lose that is extremely important.
Pat Riley

Being a part of success is more important than being personally indispensable.
Pat Riley

In all the research you do as a coach, studying other coaches and championship-type situations, you find that all those teams combined talent with great defense. You’ve got to stop other teams to win.
Pat Riley

Winning is like deodorant – it comes up and a lot of things don’t stink.
Doc Rivers

You’ve got to learn the footwork, the positioning, how to box out, how to pass, how to shoot your free throws. All these things are necessary, not to be the No. 1 player in the world, but maybe you can play against him.
Oscar Robertson

Basketball is basketball.
Oscar Robertson

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

I hate it. It looks like a stickup at 7-Eleven. Five guys standing there with their hands in the air.
Norm Sloan, commenting on zone defense

If you make every game a life and death proposition, you’re going to have problems. For one thing, you’ll be dead a lot.
Dean Smith

We’re shooting 100 percent – 60 percent from the field and 40 percent from the free-throw line.
Norm Stewart

The secret is to have eight great players and four others who will cheer like crazy.
Jerry Tarkanian

This year we plan to run and shoot. Next season we hope to run and score.
Billy Tubbs

I liked the choreography, but I didn’t care for the costumes.
Tommy Tune, on why he doesn’t play basketball

My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.
Jim Valvano

Any American boy can be a basketball star if he grows up, up, up.
Bill Vaughn

You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.
Jerry West

When it’s played the way is supposed to be played, basketball happens in the air; flying, floating, elevated above the floor, levitating the way oppressed peoples of this earth imagine themselves in their dreams.
John Edgar Wideman

You can run a lot of plays when your X is twice as big as the other guys’ O. It makes your X’s and O’s pretty good.
Paul Westphal

Never mistake activity for achievement.
John Wooden

Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden

Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation.Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden

The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.
John Wooden

The most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and launch, get started, take action, move.
John Wooden

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden

Although I wanted my players to work to win, I tried to convince them they had always won when they had done their best.
John Wooden

It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.
John Wooden

It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.
John Wooden

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
John Wooden

What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player.
John Wooden

It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.
John Wooden

You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.
John Wooden

Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.
John Wooden

Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.
John Wooden

Young people need models, not critics.
John Wooden

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
John Wooden

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