“When it gets down to it, basketball is basketball.”

You can make all the excuses you want, but if you’re not mentally tough and you’re not prepared to play every night, you’re not going to win.

Who in their right mind wouldn’t listen to what Larry Bird tells them? He knows what it takes to be a successful player, and he’s letting us do the things to have the success.

First master the fundamentals.

I always know what’s happening on the court. I see a situation occur, and I respond.

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.

Anytime you’ve got an opportunity to play for your country and win a gold medal,

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

When I go to the line I’m thinking ‘All net.’ When I don’t think that, I’m likely to miss.

I just shoot until I feel good.

Practice habits were crucial to my development in basketball.

Whether it’s a tie game or down by 1 or up by five, it was always the same shot. So I always felt comfortable with the ball in my hands because it was in there a million times before.

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

I’m a firm believer in that you play the way you practice.

I wanted to compete at the highest level again – and that’s the NBA.

I didn’t play against the toughest competition in high school, but one reason I was able to do well in college was that I mastered the fundamentals.

You never make any of the shots you never take. 87% of the ones you do take, you’ll miss too. I make 110% of my shots.

I had to bring myself back down to being a normal person again.

I think there’s a down-to-earthness with Midwesterners and with people from the Midlands – which is where my family is from – in Ireland.

What’s swinging in words? If a guy makes you pat your foot and if you feel it down your back, you don’t have to ask anybody if that’s good music or not. You can always feel it.

Ups and downs are a constant in life, and I’ve been belted into that roller coaster a thousand times.

If you’re gonna live for what people say, you might as well lay down and forget it. Because it doesn’t work that way.

I had flops, I had success.

For me to sit down here, even as a Nobel Laureate and make a prediction about which science I think that will be a mistake.

You’ve got a big, big problem if you get caught up in what people say.