Larry Johnson

“To become this N.B.A. player was fun; it just got to be work when I got here.”

“When you first come to a team, no one wants to come down and take three or four shots in a row. You want to pass the ball around and get the feel of each other.”

“Once your back's up against the wall and you've been beat down, you start looking at trying to do the right thing.”

“What I want to do for Mom - I want her to be able to understand that she can do anything she wants. I want her to be able to say, 'I've never been to so-and-so,' and go. She deserves that.”

“I can remember my jersey being the No. 1 seller for like two years, and I think it was the color of the jersey.”

“I'm always on the players' side, of course. The owners are going to take their fill, but I'm always on the players' side.”

“I remember in Charlotte, they looked to me every day. I'm 30 now. And now it's, 'Let's just win.' Maybe when I was 26 there would have been ego. Now, I just appreciate the recognition for the defense.”

“New York fans want a winner. They strive for a winner.”

“There's no place like New York. There's nothing like the New York fans.”

“When it comes to the younger generation, anything on the floor I'll criticize - not playing hard, not doing this, fighting, not giving your all. Off the floor, you guys are on your own.”

“There's a roller coaster effect when you're playing good. Everything seems to go your way. But once you start playing bad, you're playing bad.”

“I've been in the frame of mind in Charlotte that, O.K., I'm going to play defense. But I've never been in a frame of mind that my defense is going to generate my offense.”

“I feel I was born to play basketball.”

“I've turned down several assistant jobs in the NBA that I just didn't feel good about. I would love it at UNLV.”

“If I put on any pressure. I put it on myself. Nobody else puts pressure on Larry Johnson.”

“When you think about the Knicks, you associate Patrick Ewing with the Knicks, you associate Walt Frazier with the Knicks. If I do all the right things and perform up to my capabilities, I hope you associate Larry Johnson with the Knicks someday, too.”

“You got to take everything negative and turn it into a positive. That's always worked for me.”

“Coach Tarkanian is a fighter.”

“What I hate more than sitting out is being on the floor and not being 100 percent. You know you can make this move, or guard this guy better, but something is hampering you from doing it, and in the NBA. finals I hate that more than sitting out.”