When you've been around the game so much for so many years, it's just like it's a part of you.
— Paul Pierce
When you play on bad defensive teams, you get labeled as a bad defender.
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.
Everybody knows how much I disliked the Knicks when I was with the Celtics, but I think it's grown to another level.
I've been talking basketball pretty much my whole life.
A lot of people don't know this: when I was young, I wanted to be a garbage man. I asked my mom, and she said they made good money, and it was steady work.
I want to see my child grow.
Boston is always going to be a second home for me.
People probably won't even remember I played for the Clippers.
I take the opportunity 3s, and I think I'm one of the better shooters.
I knew guys way more talented than me who fell through the cracks.
When Shaq gave me the nickname, it wasn't no Joe-Bob giving you a nickname. This is Shaq. It was like, whoa.
I really don't use a personal trainer.
I always thrive on wanting to play against the best.
It's no secret that me and New York got history. It's no secret. This is no secret. It's already known.
I love walking the streets of New York.
Eating right is part of my lifestyle now.
Everybody is entitled to an honest opinion.
I'm the classic case of a great player on a bad team, and it stinks.
I want to be that guy that says I was one of the first guys to put a banner in Brooklyn.
I have an opinion. I have a right to have one, and that's the way I feel.
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.
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.
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.
Old-school guys, they don't need to see the doctor, the massage therapist. We'd come in when we was 21; we'd go right to the court and start shooting.
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.
I've always been known as a pure scorer, and I've always said if I just sat outside and shot 3s and just really focused on that - coming off of screens and spot-up 3s - and shot six or seven 3s a game, I would probably be more known as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history.
You've got to put in the work. And you've got to play with confidence. You've got to believe in yourself.
When you're a young player, and you're starting to scratch your potential, you don't know how good you can be.
When I set my goals, I set them to where they fit within the team concept.
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.
Good things only can last so long.
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.
Kids are the most genuine thing to me: everything they say and do, they mean it.
I give my honest opinion, whether it's right or wrong, but it's an opinion that I'll make.
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 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 am a confident player, and a lot of people might look at it like, 'Oh, another cocky attitude,' but I don't look at it that way.
People don't understand the power of love and family and strength.
I want to be there for my daughter - when she falls, to pick her up. When she needs help with homework.
I've always been the Rodney Dangerfield of this game. Maybe it was meant to be that way, but that always drove me.
When you're not winning in your last couple of years, it gets frustrating because where's your motivation?
You've got to be able to finish out the season on a strong note.
I think you're a product of your influences, your environment. You see guys with so much talent, but they got the wrong people around them telling them the wrong things. They wind up going down the wrong path.
I love getting up - in the summer, I get up at 5:30, 6 just to go train.
I play a lot of pick-up games; I run a lot on my own.
Winning's not easy. In order to win, you've got to see the best.
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.
The fans of New York are very knowledgeable about the game of basketball. They love their sports here.
I didn't have a dad around to pick me up when I fell, throw the ball to me outside. I always wonder how it would be if I did have a dad there.
