A Quote by Matt Barnes
I grew up in the '80s in an era that was tough. The Pistons, Celtics, Knicks, Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason. It wasn't dirty. It was just men playing basketball.
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A lot of people celebrate the '80s. I was a '90s guy. The best music, and basketball, was at its high in the '90s, with all of the best players, playing the best style of basketball in that era, and Michael Jordan winning six rings in the city I grew up in.
The '70s just seemed dirty, honestly, and not in an interesting way. It's not the '80s. In fact, it's 10 less. I grew up in the '80s, so that's more of an interesting time to me.
Detroit Pistons basketball slogan: When the going gets tough, we fire the coach.
I loved going to the Knicks because we won the Atlantic Division championship. We went from winning 21 games or 19 games to winning 52 games in a short period of time. I loved coaching Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley and all those guys.
I'm accustomed to playing basketball really rough. When I came into the league, I was used to fighting on the court. That's how I grew up playing basketball.
I grew up with Ray Charles playing in the car all the time or playing in the house.
I think basketball harnessed and built my toughness and competitiveness. I grew up in a tough neighborhood, and you were either going to cry and moan about it or get tough.
I grew up listening to the greats of the '80s and, thanks to my parents, the '70s - the Doobie Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Luther Vandross, Lionel Richie.
When you think about the Knicks, you associate Patrick Ewing with the Knicks, you associate Walt Frazier with the Knicks. If I do all the right things and perform up to my capabilities, I hope you associate Larry Johnson with the Knicks someday, too.
In the '80s, Ronald Reagan inspired me to become politicized, because I grew up in that era when everything I cared about was under attack.
So after 11 years you're just picking up all this information. I'm a basketball junky, so I watch old players. The '90s was a great era of basketball. I watched so much of that. That just helped me be a student of the game and pick up any moment. It's the 10,000 hour rule. You're just trying to master your craft.
I think the media makes it tough to play in New York. There are so many papers and TV channels covering the Knicks and the expectations for the Knicks are so high.
We make a living playing basketball. You don't have to be a tough guy or a hard-ass to play this sport. You can be tough but you don't have to have that bravado. Sometimes it's good. But I'm not going to be someone I'm not. It's just me being me.
Everybody knows how much I disliked the Knicks when I was with the Celtics, but I think it's grown to another level.
I grew up under Thatcher; the era of apartheid; the era of the poll tax; the era of riots. I remember Neil Kinnock was a hero.
Basketball has always been a sport I loved and grew up playing. For me, it was one of those things that... I guess baseball was just in my genes a little bit. I have a lot of cousins that played baseball. Basketball is not an easy sport - you definitely got to be gifted to play that game. I felt like I was pretty good at it, but my ability was better in baseball.
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