Gary Payton Quotes (33 Quotes)

Look at Pat. He's won championships and he knows what to do to get that extra oomph, ... Pat probably realized he didn't have that ... and he needed somebody who could make big plays at critical times.

I don't think Shaq really worries about it. I think he wants to play well, but he doesn't really worry about it. ... It's over.

Before (Riley) got here everybody would guard your man and get over. Now he's telling us to pull the trigger if we get beat someone has to take that man and rotate. That's a big difference. It takes time but we're getting there.

I think Pat realized he didn't have that maturity. With Shaq getting hurt and Wade getting hurt, I think he needed someone who could make big shots and big plays. I think he went out and did that.

He's put it to a level where he's like Michael Jordan now. You remember when Jordan was getting to his later stages and he couldn't get to the basket as easy as he wanted to, he started pulling up on jumpers and the mid-range jumps shots. You saw it (with Bryant) when he played Cleveland the other night. He made three consecutive baskets mid-range when he knew everybody was going to him.

It's all about mentality. We play these teams four or five times a year anyway, so we just need to not do the things that caused us to lose to them in the regular season.

And that's what I'm telling Jason right now, ... The way we play defense, the way we help, he should be great...And it's gonna take time, because he's never done it. And I'm gonna stay on him, I'm gonna stay on him a lot.

I think he's so comfortable here. I don't think he wants to move out of this neighborhood. This is just a comfort zone for him.

We've got to win like seven or eight in a row now. We've got to go like 34-16, or something like that. We're at home for four games. We need all four. If we can get that and keep building from where we're going we'll be OK.

It felt good to come out and get a welcome like that, ... It makes you feel like youre at home.

I'm going to try to help Jason as much as possible. He has never had a guy like me to guide him. When I come into camp, I'm going to try to help him. I'm not going to try to beat him up or beat him down.

He fooled us. Usually, we get the tantrum and all of that. He can say some mean stuff. But this time, he went to an opposite approach. I never thought I'd ever see that from him. He must have danced a good three or four minutes. He was good out there, twirling around, light on his feet. We got some spirit from that.

We have people calling from out-of-state who want to come and help. As we begin this recovery, we will serve as a referral service for volunteers.

It'll be a big loss and that's going to hurt us because he adjusts a lot of (shots) in the game. Hopefully, it's just a couple of games or whatever and he'll come back and be with us.

I like him the way he is now. I think he just wanted to get in shape to show people he can do that. Shaq is Shaq when he's big and when he can muscle people around. I think people thought they could muscle him around. He didn't feel comfortable with that. ... It'll be a big difference.

You really can't guard him. You can't stop him, you've got to contain him. And that's what we did on Christmas. We contained him. I tried to get him tired. That was about the only thing I could do. This time I think he's going to be a little bit more assertive with his game.

It's got to be up to Shaq. If he hits the boards like that with us, we're going to win a lot of basketball games.

It's a big difference when we are missing a lot of key guys. It is hard when we don't make shots and we are playing a team that runs and is so good at home and played Shaq the way they did.

I think we got to get a win to make it 2-2, to make people understand that we can beat them, that they don't have any advantage over us. We just have to make a statement like that.

But I'm not going to go too many more places. I'm not going to keep changing to different area codes. This next move is going to be the last for me. If it happens again, I'm going to have to just hang it up then.

That's troublesome. You always have to think about beating these guys. They come into the playoffs, they think they've got your number.

I am proud of our efforts, small though they may be, when compared to the enormity of the recovery task ahead. The uniting bond we share is the simple desire to serve those so devastated by the wrath of Hurricane Katrina.

When I come into camp, I'm going to try to help him,

It's been very hard coming from where I come from, starting all my time. But right now it's not about that. It's about what we have to accomplish to get to a championship.

That was a big change in my life. I thought I was going to be there the rest of my career. That's all I was asking for.

My oldest brother and my middle brother would always beat me up and take the ball from me. I used to cry a lot, so I used to come in here and get my dad. He used to be on my team, so he used to hold them down and let me score the basket.

We're relying on him too much and watching him too much, and that's going to kill him.

We want to win basketball games, and not let our egos get in the way. Everybody on this team has, at one point, been a star or a starter or a bigger part of their team. ... We have to understand that we are talking about wins, not who is going to have the points.

I hope we've gotten past that sense of lackadaisical play.

You don't go and panic right now. Once you start panicking things don't go right. After (tonight) will be 41 more games. If we get a better record than we did this (half) and win 28, 29, games we're going to be 48 or 49 and something, that's the way you look at it. Even if we win 24, that'd be 48 games. If we win 26, that'll be 50 games. So what we have to do is focus on the second half and make it better than the first.

That's what the NBA is about, two young up and coming guys having big games like that.

Me and him are going to click real, real well, ... I'm going to take him under my wing. I'm going to make sure he doesn't get mad at situations where it's not even necessary.

It reminds you of the days Larry Bird and Magic would go at it.