Quotes from Larry Bird

As far as playing, I didn't care who guarded me - red, yellow, black. I just didn't want a white guy guarding me, because it's disrespect to my game.

It's been a journey, the NBA. It's taken me a lot farther than I ever expected.

I've been around a while. I kinda know these things.

Once you are labeled 'the best' you want to stay up there, and you can't do it by loafing around.

When I was a kid, I never thought about anything. Never had to think about where I was going to school or what I was going to do. I just lived minute to minute.

Guys like Larry Bird -- he played so hard, he wants everybody else to play hard. That's not unreasonable. Any coach would want that and demand that.

It's funny. When I retired, I thought I'd really miss it. But I really feel like there was a weight lifted off my shoulders. I couldn't believe it. When I got done with that press conference, I walked out of there and I go, "Well, now I'm just a normal citizen. My career is over and it feels good."

Push yourself, again and again, into positions that say 'no' to your opponent. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.

I knew I was as good as anybody. That's not really bragging; it's just that I'd put the time in.

I always thought the whole idea of being paid to play pro basketball is ridiculous. I mean, think about it. You are taking that ball, running down the court, and you've got somebody on you. You've got four guys out there on your team, and five from the other team, and some people on the bench, and you look up and the place is packed, and all you are trying to do is make that ball go through the hole. It's just crazy to me. After all these years, it still doesn't make sense.

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. 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.

My thoughts were always that that night was the most important game in the world. Everybody in the world was watching that one game. And I had to be the best player on the court and win that game that night. That was my mentality, and it stuck with me all the way through my career.

The key to being a good shooter is balance. Everything follows balance.

I hate to distort history by saying the wrong thing. But that's just what happens with time. Your own thought in your mind how it happened 30 years later, but it really didn't happen that way.

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.

I was always driven on the basketball court. I always wanted to win every game I played in, sometimes too much. When you're out on the playground just playing, and you're scraping, fighting, and do whatever you can to win the game. When it's all over with, you're friends, and I'd think, 'Why did I get like that?' That's the way I've always been.

There is nothing better than being out there when the game is on the line.

I hate to lose more than I like to win.

Life is great when you're winning.

Obviously losing is very difficult, but when you're rebuilding you know you're going through stages, it's going to be tough, but as long as you draft the players and you see a bright future, I think it's going to be lights at the end of the tunnel, it's going to be very good, not only for me, but for the franchise and that's what's most important.

Well, I've been in them locker rooms after tough losses. There is no telling what's said off the record, heat of the battle. Stuff like that never bothered me. Everybody is going to have their opinion, they're going to say what they're going to say, you just go on about your business.

lt takes guts to play defense, because you can loaf out on the court and nobody will know it. Only you will know if you did your best to grab a loose ball, or stop your man from scoring.

I can't tell you how many ex-teammates have asked me for money. It's heartbreaking for me to say no, but I do, because I warned them. I told them to save.

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.