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The Best Part Of Basketball, For Those People On The Inside, Is The Bus Going To The Airport After You've Won A Game On An Opponent's Floor. It's Been A Very Tough Battle. And Preferably, In The Playoffs. And That Feeling That You Have, Together As A Group, Having Gone To An Opponent's Floor And Won A Very Good Victory, Is As About As High As You Can Get.

-Phil Jackson

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The Best Part Of

Phil Jackson

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The Best Part Of Basketball, For Those People On The Inside, Is The Bus Going To The Airport After You've Won A Game On An Opponent's Floor. It's Been A Very Tough Battle. And Preferably, In The Playoffs. And That Feeling That You Have, Together As A Group, Having Gone To An Opponent's Floor And Won A Very Good Victory, Is As About As High As You Can Get.

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You Go In The Weight Room And You Lift Weights And You Do All These Things To Strengthen Your Body. This Is Strengthening Your Mind. When You Can Stay Focused And You Can Use That Focus To Always Come Back With Your Breath To Center Yourself, So That You're Kind Of Floating In The Moment, In The Spirit.

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Basketball Coaching

Coaching Is Salesmanship. Coaching Is Winning Players Over And Convincing Them They Have To Play Together. It Takes A Team Conviction To Play Together To Make Things Work.

Basketball Is A Simple Game. Your Goal Is Penetration, Get The Ball Close To The Basket, And There Are Three Ways To Do That. Pass, Dribble And Offensive Rebound.

An Acrobatic Dunk Will Make It Onto Sports Center. A Simple, Unspectacular Bounce Pass In The Rhythm Of The Offense Will Not. System Basketball Has Been Replaced By Players Who Want To Be The System.

Basketball Is A Great Mystery. You Can Do Everything Right. You Can Have The Perfect Mix Of Talent And The Best System Of Offense In The Game. You Can Devise A Foolproof Defensive Strategy And Prepare Your Players For Every Possible Eventuality. But If The Players Don’t Have A Sense Of Oneness As A Group, Your Efforts Won’t Pay Off. And The Bond That Unites A Team Can Be So Fragile, So Elusive.

The Most We Can Hope For Is To Create The Best Possible Conditions For Success, Then Let Go Of The Outcome. The Ride Is A Lot More Fun That Way.

Always Keep An Open Mind And A Compassionate Heart.

Remember, Team, Surrender The Me For The We.

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Approach The Game With No Preset Agendas And You'll Probably Come Away Surprised At Your Overall Efforts.

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