Remember that basketball is a game of habits. If you make the other guy deviate from his habits, you’ve got him.
BILL RUSSELLTo me, the most important part of winning is joy. You can win without joy, but winning that’s joyless is like eating in a four-star restaurant when you’re not hungry. Joy is a current of energy in your body, like chlorophyll or sunlight, that fills you up and makes you naturally want to do your best.
More Bill Russell Quotes
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The most important thing to me is the friends that I’ve made.
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What distinguishes a great player is his presence. When he goes on to the court, his presence dominates the atmosphere.
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Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. I truly believe in the saying “We work to become, not to acquire.”
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I’ve been fortunate to meet and work with a lot of really smart people. The thing that strikes me most about them is how they continue to explore and learn every day. I have tried to apply that approach in my modest career as well.
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Commitment separates those who live their dreams from those who live their lives regretting the opportunities they have squandered.
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If Shakespeare can compare all of life to a stage, maybe it’s not odd to believe that part of the play can take place on a basketball court.
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If a guy pays you five dollars, you give him seven dollars worth of work.
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People say it was the greatest individual rivalry they’ve ever seen. I agree with that. Let me assure you that if either Wilt’s or Russ’ coach had ever told one of them he couldn’t guard the other guy, he would have lost that player forever.
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Most people have a harder time letting themselves love than finding someone to love them.
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We overreached our decision power. Sometimes our decisions have to fit the reality of the outside world.
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You can do anything you want to do if you want it bad enough.
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The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.
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Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute.
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I think that David Stern is probably the greatest commissioner that any sport has ever had in the history of this country.
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The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.
BILL RUSSELL