Top 70 Paul Pierce Quotes

We used to play ‘Double Dribble’ on Nintendo. Later, in high school, it was more ‘NBA Live’ and ‘John Madden Football.’

Dislike is what creates rivalries.

In college, I probably lost a total of about 11 games, and then I came to the Celtics and in my first three weeks we went on a nine-game losing streak.

I worked at a hospital for a week. And at a golf course when I was in college at Kansas for about a week. The tips weren’t good so I quit.

Personally, I think I’ve got split personalities, and I may need a psychiatrist. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Seriously. I’m serious about this.

Every kid who just played basketball knew about the Boston Celtics. They’re one of the few teams who were always on national TV along with the Lakers.

I remember I didn’t know who Jason Williams was, and he got drafted ahead of me. It was just weird. I thought I’d be in the top five, and I slipped all the way to 10, so it was a strange night for me.

When you’re a young player, and you’re starting to scratch your potential, you don’t know how good you can be.

I give my honest opinion, whether it’s right or wrong, but it’s an opinion that I’ll make.

I love getting up – in the summer, I get up at 5:30, 6 just to go train.

I knew guys way more talented than me who fell through the cracks.

I don’t have to use anything to motivate me, a trade or anything like that, for me to say I want to win a championship.

I want to be that guy that says I was one of the first guys to put a banner in Brooklyn.

I want to be the dad that my father never was.

When you go against the best… a lot of series are won on fear factor or the non-belief. When you have that non-belief, then you have no chance.

Once people start making comparisons to a player of the past, they want you to be that player. I try to go out there and create my own image, my own style, my own type of game. Right now I can’t even think of one guy I’ve been compared to.

I always thrive on wanting to play against the best.

Everybody knows how much I disliked the Knicks when I was with the Celtics, but I think it’s grown to another level.

The rim is looking bigger and bigger every game.

I love the fact that I get to play against the Los Angeles Lakers in a Game 7 on the road.

If somebody said, ‘You’re going to be the Number 1 pick; you’re going to have a great team around you all these years’? It would’ve been too easy.

I respect our greats. I admire them.

I respect LeBron. People think we have a hate for each other, but I totally respect what he’s done.

That is one of my greatest strengths. I am not afraid to face challenges or any matchup in the league.

A lot of people that I’ve had around me have been my closest friends since junior high, back when we were exchanging each other’s clothes, staying at each other’s houses. That was before I had anything.

‘Pulp Fiction’ is my favorite movie of all time.

Eating right is part of my lifestyle now.

Everybody is entitled to an honest opinion.

When I set my goals, I set them to where they fit within the team concept.

I understand when you have great players on losing teams who are tired of losing, struggling in the playoffs every year. You’re the lone star. I’ve been in that position.

You definitely gotta get more rest as an older player than you did when you were young. You’re young, full of energy. You’re out, up late, watching movies or out hanging out with your friends.

I think too much of my leadership is done the bad way.

It’s just something about great players when they play in certain arenas or against other great players. They elevate their play. LeBron is one of those guys. He feels the moment. He understands the moment.

Mostly I play sports games – football and basketball. ‘Inside Drive’ and ‘NFL Fever.’

My strength comes from my mom. Just seeing what she had to go through to raise us, she wouldn’t make excuses; she wouldn’t put her head down. So I guess I looked at adversity right in the eye and took it on.

Sometimes when general managers get a new job, they clean house and start over and rebuild and get the players they want in there.

I’m a competitive person. I love the game of basketball. I’m a gym rat.

Life changes when you have a child, when you have your own family. You become more careful about what you do. You’re not going to be out late, going out to clubs, hanging out with your friends. You’re going to be at home, taking care of your daughter, playing with her.

I have an opinion. I have a right to have one, and that’s the way I feel.

People don’t understand the power of love and family and strength.

If I had to single one guy out who is the most difficult player to guard in the league, it would have to be Carmelo.

I just love the pressure, truthfully, man.

If I see LeBron walking down the street, it’s not going to be no fistfight. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.

I think I’ve had an illustrious career.

The game isn’t over till the clock says zero.

I just think it’s really upsetting when you see a community just go out and burn down stores and trash cars.

My brother was a huge Charles Barkley fan – my brother went to Miami. He played power forward, and he always used to tell me stories about Barkley and college. And I watched Barkley growing up. I loved what he brought to the game. His toughness and just his attitude, being as strong he was.

When you play on bad defensive teams, you get labeled as a bad defender.

LeBron is a great post-up player, but if you get him to settle for the jumper on some nights, you might be able to slow him down if his shot is off.

I love the fact that, if I don’t win multiple championships, that I probably won’t be mentioned amongst the other guys in Celtics history who’ve done it before. That type of stuff motivates me.

I probably visualize myself, the shots I’m going to get in the game, how I’m going to play defense, what we have to do to stop the other team’s best player, what it’s going to take out of me, the whole aspect of the game.

When you win a championship, it is a great feeling, and you really don’t want that feeling to go away.

It’s just something I’ve always loved to do: talk basketball. It’s easy for me to give my perspective, my analyst approach to it, because even when I played, I would watch film, talk about the game.

At the beginning of the season, I set my goal to see if I can lead the league in scoring, because I feel I have that kind of ability. A lot of guys say it, but it’s not really in their grasp. I feel that’s really in my grasp.

I’ve been around this game for a long time – a lot of plane rides, a lot of bus rides, a lot of pregame speeches, a lot of national anthems.

I’m a basketball junkie and a real historian of the game, so for me to get a chance to express it and give my perspective on a national stage, I’m really enjoying it.

A lot of things change in the playoffs.

The whole business of basketball with China, it’s just a huge business that enables us to come over and connect with them and continue that fan affair.

I majored in criminal justice. I like ‘CSI,’ all that, ’24.’ I watch those shows on A&E, if I watch TV. I don’t really watch TV shows.

I originally was more into baseball and football, but being in Los Angeles, you just couldn’t help but to fall in love with the game of basketball because they had such a winning tradition.

I’ve always been the Rodney Dangerfield of this game. Maybe it was meant to be that way, but that always drove me.

I found my father through other people, through my older brothers, my high school coaches, so I had men influences along the way who helped me.

When you give a team life, give a team confidence, anything can happen in a Game 7.

What people don’t understand is the summertime is motivation – how willing you’re willing to work for the upcoming season – and I think, as older players, once you see that drive fall off in the summer, then I think it’s time to hang it up.

You can actually get calls by yelling, ‘And one!’ as you release.

The ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s genes of competitive fire are dead and gone.

I’m the classic case of a great player on a bad team, and it stinks.

I’ve got three beautiful kids that wear me out after I get home from practice. I think that’s a good thing so I’m able to get my rest.

I can’t remember last time I had a soda. It tastes like acid to me now.

I always say I wish I was in my prime matching up against LeBron. Let’s see how many championships he would have won then.