Quotes from Larry Johnson

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 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 going to take too much credit for what's happened in my life. When we're playing, the things I do are because of my teammates. So I'm not going to take too much credit.

I've turned down several assistant jobs in the NBA that I just didn't feel good about. I would love it at UNLV.

Coach Tarkanian is a fighter.

You can be totally focused on the game and all of a sudden at the Garden, you'll snap and go, 'Whoa!' It's super loud and you can't help but take a second to admire what's going on.

If I put on any pressure. I put it on myself. Nobody else puts pressure on Larry Johnson.

I love to drive and run the floor.

The key for me is the way I take care of myself off the floor.

It's important to get some balanced scoring on the floor. For me, I've got to make shots.

New York fans want a winner. They strive for a winner.

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

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

Girl-wise, I never got the girl. Because of my mother and our economy, I never had clothes. And I never - like I said - dated. I didn't date at all. I was never a guy who had girlfriends.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

I don't know nothing about the restaurant business, but I've been around a barber shop all my life. That's where I used to get my dates in high school.

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.

This is a beautiful country, the best country, but it's not holy, it's not righteous.

I think I'm caught up in playing in New York. Here, my mind is cluttered worrying about things.

The UNLV championship game against Duke, I didn't shoot the last shot. Choked. It took 10 years for me to say that. I had to be in the NBA five, six years for me to say that aloud.