Top 99 Quotes & Sayings by Larry Johnson - Page 2

I think we sometimes think, 'it is just preseason. These games are for the fans mostly.' It's for ourselves to get in shape and play against more competition. Let's face it, this is preseason, but you can develop bad habits during preseason.

You got to take everything negative and turn it into a positive. That's always worked for me.

I play basketball because I like it, but the most important thing I want to do is help my family.

If I'm hurting the team with my play, then maybe I have to sit out a game. If I think I can be effective knowing what I can and can't do, I'll keep going at it.

In Vegas we thrived on being the hated team, on being the bad boys. That's definitely not my personality. If that helps my team, helps me play better, then so be it.

But when a black player calls a white owner a slave master that's dangerous. It's one thing to say an owner is a good owner or a bad owner, but you have to be careful when you bring race into it.

One of my goals is to get my degree, get my education and stay healthy.

To become this N.B.A. player was fun; it just got to be work when I got here.

I was a country boy from Texas and I love eating.

No question, everybody knows my back was the main reason I retired.

Guys don't know it - it is New York. It's different from playing in other states. Playing here in New York is different. No way you get around it.

I used to run the streets, my mom used to be crying all the time, coming to get me out of the police station all the time. Sports took me off the street.

I picked it up just for relaxation. I can sit down and get into the game and escape that it's a big game tomorrow, escape that we need a win, or whatever. My wife knows, after a game I get home at 12:30, I'm playing chess till 3 o'clock in the morning.

When you first come to a team, no one wants to come down and take three or four shots in a row. You want to pass the ball around and get the feel of each other.

I remember in Charlotte, they looked to me every day. I'm 30 now. And now it's, 'Let's just win.' Maybe when I was 26 there would have been ego. Now, I just appreciate the recognition for the defense.

If it's a nationally televised game in the past, and I've been scoring 6, 7 and 8 points, I feel like I had a bad game in my mind.

I better make the All-Star team, and I better start.

Offense is one phase of the game. You have to be able to play the other phases of the game and help your team win.

I can't continue to have one good game and six bad ones.

I'm fond of New York, I've always been.

If I have to score baskets then I have to try to score baskets and stop missing shots, but even if it's not going, I need to be able to have another phase of the game and not let my offense take away from my defense or rebounds.

After a basketball game, you're gonna be physically tired, but more mentally. Playoff time comes around, you have it all in your head.

What I hate more than sitting out is being on the floor and not being 100 percent. You know you can make this move, or guard this guy better, but something is hampering you from doing it, and in the NBA. finals I hate that more than sitting out.

I've been in the frame of mind in Charlotte that, O.K., I'm going to play defense. But I've never been in a frame of mind that my defense is going to generate my offense.

I know that nothing is going to be given to me.

I'm a big Jeff Van Gundy fan.

I thought I was academically prepared for a major college, but I wasn't. Odessa gave me that preparation.

There's no place like New York. There's nothing like the New York fans.

I was a bad person. I needed to change. I wasn't bringing anything into my life, but negative. I needed to bring some positive and to do that I've got to start within.

I just don't want my offense to carry over to my defense. I want to help the team win and be a team player.

I'm not that big of a celebrity.

Once your back's up against the wall and you've been beat down, you start looking at trying to do the right thing.

Did you ever watch the movie 'A Raisin in the Sun?' That lady was my mom, she was the spitting image of my mom.

Pippen's best play is to get the ball to No. 23.

Hey, I'm just another guy coming out of JC. That's the way I think of myself.

It's hard to get guys going and get team morale up when you're over there sitting in a coat and tie. But when you suit up and you go out there and battle with the guys, it's easier.

What I do in the off season that hurts me is I take a month off and I do nothing.

I can shoot turnarounds from almost halfcourt.

My personal goal was to get back to my true form, and my true form is an All-Star player.