When The Game Was Ours Quotes
"The only thing I cared about was beating my brothers."
"It's all about the competition, and that's what both of us shared."
"I knew while we were playing I was doggedly scrutinizing Larry's every move."
"The first thing they want to know is, 'Have you seen him? Have you talked to Larry?'"
"We never took a single play off. We couldn't afford to because, if we did, the other guy would exploit it."
"The defender was stumbling to keep up with us."
"I'm thinking, 'Man, I love playing with this guy!'"
"We fought like hell for the same thing for over 12 years, and through it all, the respect was always there."
"People think it all started with the NCAA championship in 1979. It didn't."
"I thought, 'Maybe this year really is different,'" Bird admitted.
"He actually took credit for stopping me," Bird said. "That was funny to me."
"Somebody asked me once how I felt about all that," Bird said. "I told them, 'Hell, I'm jealous of them too. I'm jealous because I never got to play with a Larry Bird.'"
"I knew exactly how Magic was feeling," Bird said.
"It's the one thing I'll never get over," Bird said.
"Damn," Bird said. "I've got to win one of these things [championships]."
"This is 82 games now, not 30. Can you handle the demands on your body?"
"I just couldn't be like that," he said. "I didn't want to be like that."
"We're just going over what we need to do," Magic said.
"I might be a rookie, but none of you are going to punk me," Magic said.
"I was wrong," Bird said. "I never should have said it, but that's how I felt at the time."
"If you quit now, you'll never be nothing. You stay right here and take this whooping until you learn how to score."
"What did I know about cocaine or freeba sing?"
"It was all about race, drugs, and overpayment," Stern said.
"Magic had this great face that just radiated. Same with Larry Bird."
"Larry created an admiration and following among whites, and Magic created an admiration and following among blacks."
"I missed a lot because I didn't want to know."
"Magic pulled everybody in," said the Celtics coach.
"I never felt in control after that. It was the first time I failed in a big situation."
"No lay-ups!" the coach barked. "From now on, if you don't take the man out who is going to the basket, if you don't put him on his ass, then you are going to be fined."
"It was the worst night of my life," Magic said. "I told myself, 'Don't ever forget how you feel right now.'"
"Our goal is not to just get back to the Finals. It is to beat the Celtics."
"I'll never forget this moment for the rest of my life."
"Winning no longer felt like life and death—except for Larry."
"I was seeing two baskets. I had to guess which one to shoot at."
"I'm doing exactly what D.J. is going to do to you tomorrow night."
"If you got a piece of that bread on Friday, you were doing pretty good."
"You better believe Larry Bird came up in that conversation."
"We could have won again in '85, but we didn't because of more bullshit."
"I plan on living for a long time, bugging you guys like I always have. So you'll see me around."
"Here I am, saying it can happen to everybody. Even me—Magic Johnson."
"I wouldn't blame you if you left," said Magic through his tears. "Are you crazy?" Cookie answered. "I am staying. God will get us through this."
"I'm a positive guy by nature," Magic said. "I wasn't thinking, 'Oh, no, something is really wrong.' I felt so good, I couldn't imagine I was sick."
"I had this terrible empty feeling, like how I felt when my dad took his own life."
"I've got to wait until the doctors clear me," Magic curtly replied.
"Don't worry, B, I'll be all right. I'm going to beat this."
"You can't run around with all these women. Look what happened to Magic."
"I'm a warm guy," Magic said. "I'm a hugger. I'm a person who wants to greet people, and when someone pulled away, it was difficult."
"I have to be out there for myself, but for others too. Whether they have a disease or they are handicapped, they have to keep on living. That's what I'm doing—I'm living."
"Everybody was a little hands-off. You could sense it."
"I'm glad you're here," said the Admiral. "I'm glad I'm here too," Johnson answered.
"That game helped change the perception of HIV all over the world. People watching it said, 'It's okay. He can do this.'"
"I didn't have to look," Magic said. "I knew it was good."
"You think Magic faked AIDS for sympathy?" "I'm convinced Magic faked AIDS," Perry answered. "Me too," Baker chimed in.
"You have no idea what you mean to these people."
"Larry, you used to be a great player, but now you're sitting on the bench waving a towel like M. L. Carr!"
"You aren't winning five championships," Magic protested. "Michael, I'm going to steal at least one of them from you," Barkley shot back.
"Let me do this for you," said Gavitt. "Let me do it for your fans. You deserve a proper sendoff."
"We're connected," Magic told Larry. "We have been for a long time, for better or for worse. And we don't see enough of each other anyway. Let's have some fun in Springfield."
"I know what you are doing," Bird said. "I don't want the money. I didn't earn it, and I won't take it. Let's just get this over with."
"Don't look at me!" Magic shouted. "You call the play. You've got to get into the flow of the game."
"Fellas, we've got to get back to fundamentals," Magic told his team after the narrow win. "You've got to pass the ball."
"You think the Celtics didn't fear Michael Cooper?" he said. "Larry Bird said he was the toughest guy he ever faced, that Coop belongs in the Hall of Fame."
"I'm going to prove a point today," Magic said. "I'm going to prove to you that you don't know how to play this game."
"These are the guys who are willing to play the right way," he said when explaining his line-up.
"Forget all the basketball stuff," said Charles Barkley. "The economic opportunities he provided poor people in their own communities is the most remarkable thing he's ever done."
"My goal after I found out I was HIV-positive was not to let that define me," Johnson said.
"Listen," Bird said, "I'm going to give you guys one more chance tonight, because what happened in Seattle was an embarrassment to the game of basketball."
"You can't be hanging on that corner anymore," he told Pierce. "You have different responsibilities now."
"Larry and Magic played hard from the first possession to the last," Walsh said. "They didn't take a single play off, and they forced their teammates to match their intensity."
"Larry and Magic are still the only two guys I know who could take ten or eleven shots and still dominate the game," said Kevin McHale.
"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team."
"Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat."
"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."
"It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up."
"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships."
"To succeed, we must first believe that we can."
"The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory."
"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other."
"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals."
"The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important."
"Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is."
"It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters."
"Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding."
"Sports do not build character. They reveal it."
"The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose."
"Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible."
"When you’re riding, only the race in which you’re riding is important."