Allen Iverson Quotations | Page 2

That was my fault. Basically it was just good defense and I made a bad play.

We tried it different ways in the first half of the season and now we just have to do it the way Mo Cheeks wants it done every night.

We didn't take care of it. We just struggled handling the ball.

This would have been a bad one to lose, man, because we did put our effort on defense. We did play one of the best defensive games that we played.

When we rebound the ball, we're able to do that. We don't want to come down and play a half-court game all the time.

We don't have an identity as far as how we play on the defensive end. We always score, so it's obvious our problem is in other areas.

We don't have an identity as far as how we play on the defensive end. We might play well one night and on another night we won't play well. We always score the ball and average 100 points, so obviously our problem is in other areas. Until we take care of those problems, we're going to continue to struggle.

We didn't do enough offensively to get it done, and we don't usually say that.

Yeah, I came down wrong. But we've got a game tomorrow and we've got to come to play.

We're not eliminated till we're eliminated. I just feel good about not being eliminated. We get to live another day.

We are playing with a lot of confidence right now and we believe in each other more than ever. We are looking forward to trying to get in the playoffs and make something happen.

I don't want to be another Jordan, Magic, or Isiah. When my career is over, I want to be able to look in the mirror and say 'I did it my way'.

Practice? I mean, listen, we're talking about practice. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. We're talking about practice. Not a game. Not the game. Not the game. We're talkin about practice, man. We're talkin about practice. We're taklin about practice, man. What are we talkin about? Practice. We're talkin about practice, man.

I'm not perfect. But I am trying every day to concentrate on being better.

A jump shot can get you a shoe deal, a big house, a supermodel, fancy cars, a bunch of yes men, a Swiss bank account. But none of these things can get you a jump shot

I'd rather have more heart than talent any day.

I don’t even have money for a cheeseburger!

You have to go through good times and bad times to get where you're trying to go.

If I can't practice, I can't practice. It is as simple as that. I ain't about that at all. It's easy to sum it up if you're just talking about practice. We're sitting here, and I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we're talking about practice. I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we're talking about practice. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it's my last, but we're talking about practice man. How silly is that?

I play every game like it's my last game. All that matters is that you go out there and play every game as if it was your last.

I made a lot of mistakes, a lot of things I'm not proud of. But it's only for other people to learn from.

When I was young, everyone laughed at me when I said that I wanted to be a professional basketball player...now it's my turn to laugh.

I don't put pressure on myself. I just compete.

If you're struggling with your shooting, then do other things on the basketball court. Get steals, get assists, get rebounds-do anything on the court to help the team win.

Mistakes happen. But after a while you've got to stop making them happen twice.

My whole thing is, if you love me, then love me. If you don't, then believe what you hear and run with that.

One of the things you have to learn is that you don't have to have the ball all the time to be effective.

My whole thing was, just being me. Now, you look around the NBA and all of them have tattoos, guys wearing cornrows. Now you see the police officers with the cornrows. I took a beating for those types of things.

It's unfair because the people booing, I believe, wouldn't want to have their child booed. Fans don't understand our lives and what we go through. They don't look at us as humans. We love the fans because they support and love the game, but at the same time it hurts when they turn their back on us.

You can put a murderer in a suit, and hes still a murderer.

People think that I'm some tough renegade, black-hearted being, evil, but that ain't me.

I just try to look into the mirror, and work on the things that I wasn't doing, and I made a promise to myself that after the season, I will look at the same mirror, and say that you did everything you could

Being an All-Star is everything.

I went through what I went through because God said go through it

I never took the game for granted as far as not having to work on what I needed to do to accomplish all of the things that I wanted to accomplish.

Life is short. Im gonna be happy with mine.

Believe me, I am not even that brave enough to miss that many practices.

Please don't try to make things nice! All the wrong notes are right? I want it that way.

When you work hard, good things happen

I take everything I learned from the streets and put it in my NBA game.

When I was a little kid I used to go on the playground and say: today I will shoot like Bird, pass like Magic, jump like Mike, be quick like Zeke. I am thankful to them, since without seeing them do things they did, I wouldn't be in the NBA.

I believe in my heart I'm the best player in the world. I'm just a scorer. I try to put the ball in the basket for my team. I'm just confident in my ability to play ball.

I see kids today trying to do the things I did, and it makes me feel like I've come a long way.

I wasn't a bad guy. I just wanted God to give me a second chance.

How the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?!

We got to stop people. We go ahead and we score 100 points every night, but we give up more. Our whole thing was, we know we can score, and we have to start having some kind of fun on the defensive end. Everybody want to play offense. Not too many people want to play defense. Defense is ego, pride, and that's the way we've been coming out, just taking the challenge. Man-on-man first, and having each other's back when a guy gets beat.

Only the strong survive.

I dont want to be a point guard, or a two-guard, I want people to think of me as "creative", I just want to create on the court.

I want to return to the NBA this season, and help any team that wants me, in any capacity that they feel that I can help. I'm disappointed.

I always wanted to be a Sixer. My dad was a Sixers' fan. I never wanted to leave. I wanted to start my career in Philly and finish it here.

I didn't know I had this many fans in Puerto Rico. I'm going to carry this memory to my grave.

We had a lot to do with Randy being fired. If we were to do a lot better, then it probably wouldn't have happened.

I just wanted to set a good example. I wanted to do things that I hadn't done before. My whole thing was to just try to be professional. I think when you work hard, good things happen, so obviously, because we're going to the Finals.

I remember playing in a tournament when at home we didn't have light, because my mom spent her last money on my sneakers.

We talkin' about practice?

I am the MVP and I gotta worry about the trade talk.

In 2001 we didn't have all the talent in the world, we just had me on offense and just a bunch of tough ass dudes, and a great coach in Larry Brown.

I thought we'd be discussing about me not leaving Philadelphia and they just kept asking me about the practice, so I lost it.

There's nothing less than that. I don't care about just going to the playoffs; I've been to the playoffs before.

I'm going to always be a Sixer til I die.

I love you Philadelphia. I want to thank you for accepting me, and letting me be me and make this my home forever.

God chose Memphis as the place that I will continue my career.

I've always said, just go ask my teammates if you want to know about me. Go ask the guys that I've played with. Don't ask or get information about me from people who are not in the locker room or not around me all of the time. Then you'll get legit answers.

People try to start things with me because of who I am, and I know that means I have to stay away. Its definitely racial.

The basket looked like an ocean, and I was just throwing rocks in.

We talkin' bout practice?

You know, I've always told him (Larry Brown) I wanted the relationship that Michael Jackson... Michael Jordan, I'm sorry. ... I wanted the same relationship with him like Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan had.

Iverson: Man look, I hear you... it's funny to me too, I mean it's strange... it's strange to me too, but we're talking about practice man, we're not even talking about the game... the actual game, when it matters... We're talking about practice ...

I've been in Philadelphia 10 years, man. I knew it was going to be a challenge, mentally. I always thought life would come to an end if I ever left Philadelphia. And I feel like a newborn. Being in Denver it's just a better situation for me. And I'm just happy that I feel like I got an opportunity where I can win basketball games here.

Not a game, not a game... practice.

I was the bridge between the Michael Jordan era and LeBron James era.

I would rather win than have good sportsmanship.

We're not playing defense, ... We're not defending or rebounding the ball. That's taking away a lot of baskets because we can't run and we can't stop anybody.

We're not playing defense. We're not defending or rebounding the ball. That's taking away a lot of baskets because we can't run and we can't stop anybody.

We understand that we're going to get the ball into Tim and play off him.

We have to get it done, that's no excuse.

We're going to need team efforts and we need each other down the stretch.

We're going to need team efforts, we're going to need each other down the stretch. With 29 games to go, we've got to win more than half of those to give us a better seed in the playoffs. We don't want to settle for the eighth spot. We want to try and get as high as we can.

We're just happy, ... We wanted to win this game so bad. I've got to take my hat off to my teammates. They played big. They really picked me up tonight.

We stopped doing the things that got us the lead, both offensively and defensively. You can feel it. You're not getting easy shots anymore.

We are looking forward to trying to get in the playoffs and make something happen. It's all a matter of confidence and we have that now. We can still make the playoffs, it's all up to us.

We knew we were going to be short-handed, being that Chris wasn't playing, and other guys stepped up and played big for us.

What I've learned late in my career is, regardless of whether you play well or not, if the team doesn't win, it's all for nothing,

When I struggle the way I did tonight, as a team we are obviously going to struggle.

Every game is important for us. We didn't act like it tonight.

I've been seeing a different side basically all year long. His demeanor is totally different from being an assistant coach and the Maurice Cheeks that I got to know throughout the years of him being here. I expect it because he has a different role now.

The whole paper is like a book, Tales From the Dark Side or something.

The whole team learned a lot tonight, ... I was glad to we had that situation where it was a close game and we had to get it done. We had to get a stop. We showed a lot of character there.

The good part about this is you get to see what type of character you have as a team.

The sky's the limit for him, ... He's a tough guard. He's got the best coach in the world on his side.

When you rebound the ball we're able to move the ball, and we want to get out and run, try to get guys some easy baskets. We don't want to come out and play a half-court game all the time.

We moved the ball around today. Everybody did a great job playing off each other.

When you have a first half like that nine times out of 10 you're gonna have good lead. Guys are coming out with a sense of urgency the positive thing about that is that it's happening now.

When you have a half like that, nine times out of 10, you're going to have a good lead.

When you get down like that, you use up so much energy to get back into the basketball game. Then you have to be perfect the rest of the way. And playing this game, there is no way you can be perfect, because this game is so hard.

There are a lot of things we're doing wrong or we wouldn't be under .500. It's not like we're doing one or two things wrong.

We've just got to understand that (tonight) is a different day and we've got to perform better than we did (Wednesday) night.

We've got to come out the same way we come out in the second half, ... We've got to start the game with some sense of urgency. Once teams start hitting shots and get a read on us, it's gonna put our backs against the wall. That's something we need to be concerned about.

You have to be a strong teammate when you're playing with me. And I have to be strong myself because of the controversy, just putting me against my team one second, and then putting my team against me the next second.

We're trying to get better, and we're not where we want to be -- but we've progressed. If we stay consistent on defense, we'll be fine. We'll get the easy baskets and then won't have rely on jumpers.