Although practice alone cannot predict basketball success, its importance should not be underestimated. Basketball performance is largely dependent on practice since it allows players to develop their mental game. When competing, you will perform exactly as you did during practice. Although it is debated whether practice makes perfect, it undeniably improves our performance on the field and raises our temperament in general.
Also See: Top Quotes by Professional Basketball Player Stephen Curry About Hard Work & Practice
In this post, we’ve collected some really helpful quotes from basketball greats who have placed a strong focus on practice as a form of training. Many basketball players attribute their success in the sport to their commitment to practice.
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Guess the quote’s author
Let’s take a quick quiz now before you read these inspiring sports quotes. Your task in this quiz is to identify the authors of the quotes we’ve provided from this post. You’ll have three choices to choose from, so think carefully! Match the words to the person who said them!
Kobe Bryant Quotes About Practice
- “Practices are meant to be competitive. If your practices aren’t more competitive than the games themselves, you’re doing the wrong thing.” – Kobe Bryant, Basketball player
- “You have to get them [players] emotionally to want to be better. You have to get them to an emotional space where they wake up every morning driven to be the best version of themselves. How do you do that? In practice, for me it was a chance to drive them to challenge them.” – Kobe Bryant, Basketball player
- “Kobe was great. He practices as if it’s Game 7. He wants to prove that he’s the best player in the world every single practice.” – Jason Kidd, a basketball coach on Kobe Bryant’s work ethic
- “It’s a good separation for me, emotionally, to be able to put myself in a place where at practice or when I’m training or during games I switch my mind to something else. I switch my mode into something else.” – Kobe Bryant, Basketball player
- “It’s not about the number of hours you practice, it’s about the number of hours your mind is present during the practice.” – Kobe Bryant, Basketball player
- “You always have to be on edge. You always have to take every practice, every game, like it is your last.” – Kobe Bryant, Basketball player
- “If your job is to try to be the best basketball player you can be. To do that you have to practice, you have to train. You wanna train as much as you can as often as you can.” – Kobe Bryant, Basketball player
- “If you don’t struggle in practice, you are never going to get better.” – Kobe Bryant, Basketball player
LeBron James Quotes About Practice
- “I care more about the practice court than I care about the preseason games.” – LeBron James, Basketball player
- “I love our practices, I love to see what we are doing and continue to work behind closed doors. I don’t really put too much in the preseason, to be honest.” – LeBron James, Basketball player
- “I love the practices more than the preseason games because you could be making mistakes and you figure it out right there.” – LeBron James, Basketball player
- “I practice pretty much every shot that I take in a game.” – LeBron James, Basketball player
Stephen Curry Quotes About Practice
- “I want to practice to the point where it’s almost uncomfortable how fast you shoot, so that in the game things kind of slow down.” – Stephen Curry, Basketball player
- “I love to work. You kind of get lost in the sessions you have on the court in practice, in the weight room, wherever it is, because you know it’s going to lead to you being as prepared as possible for those games.” – Stephen Curry, Basketball player
- “We just have to have everybody in the same mindset, on the same page. Just the mental focus you need to have. It starts in practice, again, envisioning what that’s going to look like, everybody marinating on it for the next 24 hours and then going out and getting the job done.” – Stephen Curry, Basketball player
- “When I was in college, our coach used to ask us, if we had a good practice, he’d give us each a penny and we’d put that penny in a jar to symbolise the process and the progression of getting better.” – Stephen Curry, Basketball player
Michael Jordan Quotes About Practice
- “Every day in practice was like that for me, it was a competition. so when the game comes, there isn’t nothing that I haven’t already practiced.” – Michael Jordan, former basketball player
- “I practice as if I’m playing in the game. So when the moment comes in the game it’s not new to me. That’s the reason why you practice. That’s the effort, so when you get to that moment you don’t have to think. Instinctively things happen.” – Michael Jordan, former basketball player
- “I love practice. I need to practice. I cannot skip practice. I needed this, you know. Today, I need to get back into practice.” – Michael Jordan after a basketball game.
- “After about 2.5 hours of hard practice, I’m walking off the floor, like, drenched [in] sweat, tired. And, here comes Michael [Jordan] pushing me back on the floor, wanting to play a little one-on-one, wanting to see where his game was.” – James Worthy, Michael Jordan’s teammate
Quotes about patience from basketball players and coaches
- “When I’m out there by myself, what I’m doing is practicing my rhythm. I can go out myself at the same time and take one thousand shots anywhere I want.” – Larry Bird, Former Basketball player
- “I practice being a champion even before I knew it was possible!” – Dwyane Wade, Basketball player
- “I get up in the morning, I take a shower, and I go to practice.” – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Basketball player
- “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.” – Larry Bird, former basketball player
- “Sometimes I’m reflecting on practice and things I could’ve done better, other times I’m visualizing things that will happen in a game. Having that time to myself is important. It’s a big part of who I am as a player.” – Jamal Murray, Canadian basketball player
- “We were just dominating. We were dominating everybody, we were just that dominant of a team. But the practices, those were the real games.” – Patrick Ewing, former basketball player
- “I was practicing. I was putting my hours in. For me, it was fun. I was starving for information [on the game].” – Grant Hill, former basketball player
- “I play really hard. I put my body on the line every damn practice. Every day in the games. That’s my passion. That’s how I give to the game.” – Jimmy Butler, basketball player
- “It’s definitely fun when you’re able to translate your practice into the game. It’s fun, and you know that your hard work paid off.” – Kawhi Leonard, basketball player
- “I’m just happy that I get the opportunity to do the things on the court that I do in practice.” – Kawhi Leonard, basketball player
- “One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn’t do you any good.” – Abe Lemons, American college basketball player and coach
- “You’ve got to put in a lot of practice if you want to be good in something. You’ve got to do it the right way.” – Moses Malone, former basketball player
- “Champions play as they practice. Create a consistency of excellence in all your habits.” – Mike Krzyzewski, former college basketball coach
- “Play and practice like you are trying to make the team.” – Mike Krzyzewski, former college basketball coach
- “Everybody wants to be on a championship team, but nobody wants to come to practice.” – Bob Knight, former basketball coach
Quotes about patience from female basketball players
- “Sports was my outlet where I could practice and I could get really good at something.” – Tamika Catchings, retired professional basketball player
- “You have to not only love the game, you have to love the training, the practice, and the competing. You have to love everything about it.” – Maya Moore, American basketball player
- “You gotta practice how you play, it’s the only way to improve your game.” – Candace Parker, basketball player
- “My dad, he really pushed me hard when I was a kid and he really encouraged me to practice how I play and practice like you’re gonna play.” – Candace Parker, Basketball player
- “Every training I want to prove myself, every practice.” – Diana Taurasi, Basketball player
- “Seeing how hard Diana Taurasi works in practice has been amazing. She takes it to another level and is basically another coach on the floor.” – Brittney Griner on Diana Taurasi’s work ethic
Conclusion
A fun quiz is a great way to summarize the lessons we can take from these inspiring quotes. This fun quiz is intended to help you remember the key ideas and takeaways from the quotes in our blog post.
How to play?
In this quiz, you must complete the quote you’ve just read from various athletes and coaches by selecting the correct option from the options provided. The aim of this quiz is to help you recall key takeaways from the quotes. You will receive one point for selecting the correct option. Are you ready? Let’s get started.
Also See:
Encouraging Basketball Quotes About Passion
Motivational Basketball Quotes About Hard Work
Tags: Basketball
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Featured Image Credit: Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
