Larry Johnson

JC was good for me. I had a coach who kept me into things and thinking positive. It was good basketball, but more than that it prepared me for the academic scene at a university.

I know that nothing is going to be given to me.

In Vegas we thrived on being the hated team, on being the bad boys. That's definitely not my personality. If that helps my team, helps me play better, then so be it.

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

I picked it up just for relaxation. I can sit down and get into the game and escape that it's a big game tomorrow, escape that we need a win, or whatever. My wife knows, after a game I get home at 12:30, I'm playing chess till 3 o'clock in the morning.

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

After a basketball game, you're gonna be physically tired, but more mentally. Playoff time comes around, you have it all in your head.

I'm a big Jeff Van Gundy fan.

I'm fond of New York, I've always been.

It's hard to get guys going and get team morale up when you're over there sitting in a coat and tie. But when you suit up and you go out there and battle with the guys, it's easier.

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.

I can't continue to have one good game and six bad ones.

Hey, I'm just another guy coming out of JC. That's the way I think of myself.

Maybe I'm a little biased, but I thought I could always play defense.

You can't ever get to the point where you don't think you can learn anything more.

Vegas is my town, my people.

Coach Tarkanian is a fighter.

I'm an Oakley fan.

I don't know nothing about the restaurant business, but I've been around a barber shop all my life. That's where I used to get my dates in high school.

The key for me is the way I take care of myself off the floor.

For me to lose weight or maintain my weight is all about my diet, because I can come here and work two-and-a-half hours twice a day and if I get off my diet and eat like I normally eat, which is bad, I will gain weight.

In Charlotte, I thought we were on the right track. It didn't happen.

I think I'm caught up in playing in New York. Here, my mind is cluttered worrying about things.

I just have to keep working, just stay on top of my game, stay on top of my weight and stay prayed up.

Saw the best boxer, pound for pound: Roy Jones. Not a lot of hype, though.

I definitely don't look at myself as a 3-point shooter, but when we're playing three big guys, I find myself on the perimeter a lot, and they leave me alone. I've got to knock it down or do something with it.

I'm not going to take too much credit for what's happened in my life. When we're playing, the things I do are because of my teammates. So I'm not going to take too much credit.

I thought I was academically prepared for a major college, but I wasn't. Odessa gave me that preparation.

I used to run the streets, my mom used to be crying all the time, coming to get me out of the police station all the time. Sports took me off the street.

I play basketball because I like it, but the most important thing I want to do is help my family.

Did you ever watch the movie 'A Raisin in the Sun?' That lady was my mom, she was the spitting image of my mom.

I was a country boy from Texas and I love eating.

No question, everybody knows my back was the main reason I retired.

I can shoot turnarounds from almost halfcourt.

I better make the All-Star team, and I better start.

My personal goal was to get back to my true form, and my true form is an All-Star player.

If I have to score baskets then I have to try to score baskets and stop missing shots, but even if it's not going, I need to be able to have another phase of the game and not let my offense take away from my defense or rebounds.

Offense is one phase of the game. You have to be able to play the other phases of the game and help your team win.

After I signed my big contract, I expected to be in Charlotte for the rest of my career. Things just didn't work out. Now I'm with the Knicks.

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.

I'm not that big of a celebrity.

Pippen's best play is to get the ball to No. 23.

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

I was a bad person. I needed to change. I wasn't bringing anything into my life, but negative. I needed to bring some positive and to do that I've got to start within.

I just don't want my offense to carry over to my defense. I want to help the team win and be a team player.

But when a black player calls a white owner a slave master that's dangerous. It's one thing to say an owner is a good owner or a bad owner, but you have to be careful when you bring race into it.

I think we sometimes think, 'it is just preseason. These games are for the fans mostly.' It's for ourselves to get in shape and play against more competition. Let's face it, this is preseason, but you can develop bad habits during preseason.

Guys don't know it - it is New York. It's different from playing in other states. Playing here in New York is different. No way you get around it.

If I'm hurting the team with my play, then maybe I have to sit out a game. If I think I can be effective knowing what I can and can't do, I'll keep going at it.

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.