Basketball, unlike football with its prescribed routes, is an improvisational game, similar to jazz. If someone drops a note, someone else must step into the vacuum and drive the beat that sustains the team.
Phil JacksonRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The joy of victory is intensified when achieved away from home.
Phil Jackson articulates the peak emotion experienced by a basketball team after triumphing against an opponent in their own arena. This victory is not just about the game itself, but the shared experience and camaraderie that comes from overcoming challenges together, particularly in a high-stakes playoff scenario, creating a deep sense of achievement and unity among teammates.
Themes
VictoryTeamworkBasketballPlayoffsSuccessCamaraderieCelebrationCompetition
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech at a sports awards ceremony to highlight the importance of teamwork.
More from Phil Jackson
All quotes →My father was a man who didn't consider himself learned. He was a man who liked to be a farmer. He enjoyed his dairy farm and felt the calling. So there was a dedication. I was dedicated as a child to the service of God, and so there was this continual centering of a greater purpose than your own.
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Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.
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My first act after being named head coach of the Bulls was to formulate a vision for the team. I had to take into account not only what I wanted to achieve, but how I was going to get there.
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My father was the superintendent of the churches in the state of Montana. He was content in his beliefs. He befit the term 'true Christian.' He would turn the other cheek. He was truly a man of peace.
Phil JacksonRead
If you give the future all your attention, the present will pass you by.
Phil JacksonRead
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