Top 89 Basketball Quotes

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Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world. With that in mind, check out the top 89 basketball quotes.

#89 – 80. Basketball Quotes

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

88. Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody. – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

87. All the successful teams I’ve ever seen have three characteristics: They play unselfish, they play together, and they play hard.-Larry Brown

86. Shooting percentage is just as much about decision making as it is about technique– Jeff Van Gundy

85. Teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one – Mike Slide8Krzyzewski

84. I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.-Michael Jordan

83. If you quit once it becomes a habit. Never quit! – Michael Jordan

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

81. I have self-doubt, I have insecurity, I have a fear of failure, I have nights when I show up at the arena and I’m like, ‘My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt, I don’t have it, I just want to chill.’ We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it. – Kobe Bryant

80. The basketball court for me, during a game, is the most peaceful place I can imagine. On the basketball court, I worry about nothing. When I’m out there, no one can bother me. – Michael Jordan.

#79 – 70. Basketball Quotes

79. Sometimes a player’s greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the Slide1team. – Scottie Pippen

78. Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. – Michael Jordan

77. You don’t play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball.—Bobby Knight

76. The key to success is failure. – Michael Jordan

75. When a gifted team dedicates itself to unselfish trust and combines instinct with boldness and effort–it is ready to climb-Pat Riley

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

73. The greatness of Michael Jordan is his competitive drive. The weakness of Michael Jordan is his competitive drive – Phil Jackson

72. 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

71. I think, team first. It allows me to succeed, it allows my team to succeed.-Lebron James

70. I’ve never lost a game, I just ran out of time. – Michael Jordan

#69 – 60. Basketball Quotes

69. You have to earn your right to win the game with effort and togetherness. – Brad Stevens

68. Don’t be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed. – Lebron James

67. Everyone is born with a certain potential. You may never achieve your full potential, but how close you come depends on how much you want to pay the price.-Red Auerbach

66. I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win.-Michael Jordan

65. If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail. – Kobe Bryant

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

63. We believe in people executing their role and caring about the team more than anything individually – Gregg Popovich

62. Keep practicing. Never let anyone tell you’re too small or too slow. – Chris Paul

61. There is a lot of pressure put on me, but I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself. I feel if I play my game, it will take care of itself.-Lebron James

60. If it turns out that my best wasn’t good enough, at least I wont look back and say that I was afraid to try – Michael Jordan

#59 – 50. Basketball Quotes

59. Commitment separates those who live their dreams from those who live their lives regretting the opportunities they have squandered. – Bill Russell

58. My goal is to win the next game one possession at a time. That’s it. I don’t have any other goals – Brad Stevens

57. Winning is more related to good defense than good offense. – Dr. Jack Ramsay.

56. A lot of late nights in the gym, a lot of early mornings, especially when your friends are going out, you’re going to the gym, those are the sacrifices that you have to make if you want to be an NBA basketball player. – Jason Kidd

55. I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.-Larry Bird

54. Be led by your dreams not by your problems. – Roy Williams

53. When you think you have done enough, do a little more, because someone out there is working harder than you. – Larry Bird

52. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise – Michael Jordan

51. I don’t know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still Slide6wonder if somebody – somewhere – was practicing more than me – Larry Bird

50. There is a direct correlation between the number of ball reversals and defensive breakdowns – Kevin Eastman

#49 – 40. Basketball Quotes

49. The one thing I learned about myself going back and watching tapes of all the losses that we’ve had is that I’m physically capable of doing this and dominating the game, but the mental part was not there. I don’t know if it comes with age, but I had to learn to be mentally tough. – Lisa Leslie

48. I really get motivated when I have doubters. – Shaquille O’Neal

47. When an elevator brings you upstairs, you better send it back down to bring others up. – Dikembe Mutombo

46. If all I’m remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I’ve done a bad job with the rest of my life. –Isiah Thomas

45. He who controlleth the backboard, controlleth the game. – Adolph Rupp.

44. The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team. – Phil Jackson

43. I have a plan of action, but the game is a game of adjustments – Mike KrzyzewskiSlide4

42. If you’re going to have to beg them to play, it’s not going to work.-Chuck Daly

41. Winning teams at the NBA level, the college level, and the high school level all play Slide2team basketball. Championship teams have five players on the same page at all times.-Hubie Brown

40. In developing teams, I don’t believe in rules. I believe in standards. Rules don’t promote teamwork, standards do – Mike Krzyzewski

#39 – 30. Basketball Quotes

39. There is no I in team but there is in win. – Michael Jordan

38. Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the ME for the WE. – Phil Jackson

37. If you’re not talking, you’re not playing defense – Doc Rivers

36. I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand Slide5you. I don’t want to understand you.-Kobe Bryant

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

34. You can’t always be the most talented or gifted person in the room, but you can be the most competitive.-Pat Summit

33. I think that my God-given physical attributes, big hands, and big feet, the way that I’m built, proportion-wise, just made basketball the most inviting sport for me to play. – Julius Erving

32. Winning is about having the whole team on the same page. – Bill Walton.

31. The key is not the ‘will to win’… everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important – Bob Knight

30. Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. – Kevin Durant.

#29 – 20. Basketball Quotes

29. Champions never complain, they are too busy getting better. – John Wooden.

28. A key basketball skill is imagery. The best players see situations before they happen so they can be prepared – Dr. Jack Ramsay

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

26. You can’t win unless you learn how to lose. – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

25. Bad shooters are always open – Pete Carril

24. Admit to and make yourself accountable for mistakes. How can you improve if you’re never wrong? – Pat Summitt

23. Young men need more models, not critics– John Wooden

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

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

20. The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. –Ann Landers

#19 – 10. Basketball Quotes

19. When I walked into the gym, I fell in love with the game. I didn’t fall in love with it just because it was me playing. I fell in love with it because I’ve got guys like this – like these guys every single day that push me to be the best that I can be.-Kevin Durant

18. Everything negative — pressure, challenges — are all an opportunity for me to rise.-Kobe Bryant

17. In order to achieve positive results, one must work for them, not hope for them. – Bob Knight.

16. Remember that basketball is a game of habits. If you make the other guy deviate Slide7from his habits, you’ve got him – Bill Russell

15. When you’re not practicing, someone else is getting better. — Allen Iverson.

14. I can’t stand a ballplayer who plays in fear. Any fellow who has a good shot has got to take it and keep taking it. So he misses – so what? – Red Auerbach.

13. It’s OK to make mistakes. That’s how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes. – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

12. The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would not play ‘drop the handkerchief’. – James Naismith.

11. Every memory I had growing up was involving a basketball. I didn’t go to the prom and stuff like that. It was always basketball for me. – Kevin Durant.

10. I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

#9 – 1. Basketball Quotes

9. Failure is acceptable. but not trying is a whole different ball park. – Michael Jordan

8. It’s not just about working hard, it’s about working together. You have to care more about the team than you do about yourself. – John Calipari

7. I’ve never been afraid of big moments. I get butterflies… I get nervous and anxious, but I think those are all good signs that I’m ready for the moment. – Stephen Curry.

6. Winners are not people who do not fail, but people who never quit-Anonymous

5. Never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best. – Tim Duncan

4. Bottom line, you’re either a risk taker, or your not, and if you don’t take risks, you’ll never win big.-Geno Auriemma

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

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

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

Ideas for the top 89 basketball quotes come from the following sources.^[1]HoopsFiend – The 50 Best Basketball Quote^[2]kidadl – 70+ Best Basketball Quote To Inspire And Motivate You^[3]Dunk or Three – 33 Inspirational Basketball Quote