Quotes from Larry Bird

When it gets down to it, basketball is basketball.

If there was a payment to the bank due, and we needed shoes, she'd get the shoes, and then deal with them guys at the bank. I don't mean she wouldn't pay the bank, but the children always came first.

When I was a kid, like 14 or 15, I played with the waiters from the hotel, 'cause that was the best game. And these guys, they'd let me play. And they were black guys.

But it is a black man's game, and it will be forever.

Michael Jordan is God disguised as a basketball player.

Maybe it's God disguised as Michael Jordan.

I really don't like talking about money. All I can say is that the Good Lord must have wanted me to have it.

The best player I ever played with was Dennis Johnson.

It doesn't matter who scores the points, it's who can get the ball to the scorer.

Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players.

Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.

Don't let winning make you soft. Don't let losing make you quit. Don't let your teammates down in any situation.

I don't think that once you get to one level, you can relax. You've got to keep pushing.

First master the fundamentals.

Basketball has been my life and I worked at it so hard because I enjoyed it so much.

I wasn't real quick, and I wasn't real strong. Some guys will just take off and it's like, whoa. So I beat them with my mind and my fundamentals.

Strength is not nearly as important as desire. I don't think you can teach anyone desire. I think it's a gift. I don't know why I have it, but I do.

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.

The one thing that always bothered me when I played in the NBA was I really got irritated when they put a white guy on me.

I don't know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody - somewhere - was practicing more than me.

I've always been interested in jobs in the NBA. But I've been in this for 20 years and it might be time to do something else.

I get homesick.

I used to love the feeling of running, of running too far. It made my skin tingle.

Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you're ready to play as tough as you're able to, you'd better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you're not giving it all you've got.