Championships Quotations

I have short goals - to get better every day, to help my teammates every day - but my only ultimate goal is to win an NBA championship. It's all that matters. I dream about it. I dream about it all the time, how it would look, how it would feel. It would be so amazing.

Growing up, I always dreamed of winning an NBA championship, never a gold. A gold was something that never crossed my mind.

I once heard that Paul Seymour said as much as winning an NBA Championship, he'd like to see the Celtics lose a game after Auerbach brought out the cigar so he could go up to Arnold and stuff the cigar in his face.

All that's missing for Utah is a blindfold and a cigarette.

If that's the last image of Michael Jordan...how magnificent is it!?

17 seconds from Game 7, or from Championship number 6,Jordan, open, Chicago with the lead. Time out Utah, 5.2 seconds left, Michael Jordan running on fumes with 45 points.

Not even thinking about anything. My mind is a blank. We just want to enjoy the moment.

LeBron doesn't have any weaknesses, or he doesn't have a glaring weakness. So you've got to pick up on the smaller things to try to make him uncomfortable. Like knowing which side he likes to shoot threes off the dribble, which side he likes to drive. One side he'll drive left more often, and the other side he'll drive right more often.

'Stay with it' was our coach's motto. That's what we did. This is unreal!

The common denominator is that we have guys who are really hungry to show what they can do.

So after 11 years you're just picking up all this information. I'm a basketball junky, so I watch old players. The '90s was a great era of basketball. I watched so much of that. That just helped me be a student of the game and pick up any moment. It's the 10,000 hour rule. You're just trying to master your craft.

I want to be just like Steph when I grow up.

I want to go get a stop on defense so James can do it again. It was a big spurt for him. That made then get out of their game plan and play him closer. But when he does that, we want to make sure we capitalize and get timely stops. And that's what got us right back in the game.

I'm pleased that they performed as well as they did while we've been in Miami and that's about as far as it goes. Now, we've got to go home and play as well or better.

I don't think we'll shoot 76 percent in a half ever again. That's crazy.

I got a goal, and it's a huge goal, and that's to bring an NBA championship here to Cleveland, and I won't stop until I get it.

My family is happy. That makes my job a lot easier. For the fans, I try to put it all out there on the floor.

I don't know any other other team that got to the finals without two all stars.

But put my body through a lot, you know, but it's the price for your body feeling this way for winning. Did I win? I didn't win a championship, but I've done a lot of good things in this first year back, and hopefully I can continue it.

But then I lock back in and I start thinking about how fun it is to compete during the playoffs and the first round, the second round, and Eastern Conference Finals. If I'm lucky enough to get here again, it will be fun to do it.

It just wasn't our time.

We lost one, we won two and we lost another one. We'll take 50 percent in four years in championships any day. Obviously, we want to win all of them, but that's just the nature of the game. Not proud of the way we played in this series.

Just wanted to inspire my teammates. Obviously, I didn't do enough.

They jumped on us. They were the aggressor. They had us on our heels from the beginning.

The best option for me to do was not to move. I tried, and any little nudge or step, it the cramping would get worse. It was the whole left leg ... nearly the whole left side. ... I drank a lot of fluids at halftime. I even changed my uniform.

I'm feeling better after the game than I did when I came off the floor with cramps. ... I was going to try to give it a go, and 'Spo said 'No.' You know, after I came out of the game, they kind of took off. And it was frustrating sitting out and not being able to help the team.

Just because we are back home, don't get comfortable. Have that same uptight feeling like it's just us against everyone.

We did what we are supposed to. We protected home. We have to try to do it again Thursday night.

We aren't comfortable. We are not satisfied. We have to stay even-keeled.

This is a proud moment for our city. This is the first time we have won a Finals game in this city, and I'm happy to be part of the history.

These fans here are unbelievable. They showed up and showed out tonight. We needed every little bit of it.

You lose in the Finals, they're all disappointing. Doesn't matter if I'm playing in Miami, Cleveland or on Mars. You lose the Finals, it's disappointing.

We ran out of talent tonight. The guys played as hard as they could, as long as we could.

If I could have gave more, I would have done it. I gave everything I had

We defended. We made them keep tough shots, and we executed offensively.

A team like Golden State, when they get into a rhythm they make shots.

Steph is scary. I've never seen anyone who can shoot the ball off the dribble like him. He got it going in 4th. Every game is different.

Everything is sore right now. Everything. I look like I'm doing okay but I can't wait to get home.

I didn't think we'd get to this point that we're at now, but I was ready to lead If we got to this point.

The group of guys I have... They are playing off straight motivation.

We have to continue at a high level and make them take tough shots.

I enjoy the competition and whatever it takes throughout the competition, I will do it.

Tonight we had our chances but we ran out of talent.

That team across the way, you tip your hat to them. They did a great job. It showed in these Finals.

It's a lot of talent sitting in suits.

Well, of course you question it, especially when you get to this point. I always look at it would I rather not make the playoffs or lose in The Finals? I don't know. I don't know. I've missed the playoffs twice. I lost in The Finals four times. I'm almost starting to be like I'd rather not even make the playoffs than to lose in The Finals. It would hurt a lot easier if I just didn't make the playoffs and I didn't have a shot at it.

Actually, Magic and the Lakers beat Philadelphia for Magic's first NBA Championship.

Everyone knows Jordan as a winner, and that's what I want to be known as at the end of my playing career. Someone who's won multiple NBA Championships and has made a difference in the NBA.

I'm not skilled enough to explain properly how we feel. Not only me, but I'm sure Tony and Tim and Pop feel the same way. Last year was a tough one for all of us. We felt like we had the trophy, that we were touching it, and it slipped away. We all felt guilty. We got to this spot, and we didn't let it go.

And the vision that I had when I decided to come here is all coming true. Through adversity, through everything we've been through, we've been able to persevere ... It's an unbelievable feeling.

When you look at the last 20 years in the NBA, there have been seven teams that have won the NBA championship. Six of those seven teams drafted the number one or number two pick; their foundational people,

I think LeBron asked out of the game once or twice before that, so we knew he was getting tired but we were all getting tired out there. ... I don't think I've played in anything like this since I left the islands.

It's different as a coach because you feel responsible for a lot of people. Even though you don't take a shot, you don't get a rebound, you feel like you just want people to succeed and you want to help them any way you can.

We didn't do much different against LeBron. We were just more active and more competitive.

Our team, because of our depth and our talent, we were able to do that, and it turned into a special season as a result.

I'm just thrilled for so many people. Our players, mostly, but the people in our organization - Rick Welts, Joe Lacob and Peter Guber and the whole group. It's just a phenomenal group of people. I think as a coach you just appreciate kind of the big picture a little bit more.

I can't believe how lucky I am.

Yeah, I know there's been all this talk this year especially about the 3-point shot and can you win shooting it. There's a lot of different styles that can work. You have to base it on your own personnel.

I want to say congratulations to Cleveland and Coach Blatt. LeBron is an incredible player.

We had a lot of luck this year and our guys took advantage. Wow. What a night.

For them to have the season that they had, for them to have us on the ropes ... Congrats to the Cavs.

We've been able to handle any team that you guys put in front of us. We've had confidence since day one. ... We feel like any team we play against, we've got what it takes to put ourselves in a position to win.

Give me about 10 years, I'm going to run for President. If I can squeeze in an NBA championship before that, I'll do it.