Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Timmy Horan was a childhood hero. He was a great distributor, elusive, good stepper, very physical, defensively very sound. What a rounded player.
I became a better talker on the floor, being at Duke, being in leadership with Coach K, and I think I got better defensively as the season progressed.
You look at all the elite players around the League, the guys that are responsible defensively, the guys that can score at will, they kind of do it all.
My Italian adventure was positive because I improved a lot in tactical terms, most of all defensively, which is something I hadn't worked on quite so much.
I think any way you can help offensively or defensively, and if you can get both in one day, that's a huge confidence booster and everyone wants to do that.
Being in the weight room has helped me. Defensively, it helps because I'm not getting backed down easily. My legs are stronger, so I can move my feet better.
It actually took me a year to learn how to play running back - to understand what they were doing defensively and then what our guys were doing every single play.
You know what to expect when you play Championship sides. They're very solid defensively, they're not scared to put their foot or head in, and they defend very well.
Gary Neville played a similar position to me. Defensively and offensively, he was a quality player for Manchester United and England. His trophies speak for themselves.
We try and play football in a positive way. Any team has to be defensively organised, but you have to look at the attributes of the players and play to their strengths.
I'm adding moves to my post game. I'm really working on staying low. I'm working on my strength overall, especially my legs. That's going to help me defensively as well.
I'm just getting a lot more opportunity than I got my second year in Phoenix. Here defensively with the Heat, I'm on a lot more tough defensive assignments. They trust me.
The deeper you get into the playoffs, obviously the better the opponent is. Which means they'll be better defensively, they'll rebound better, they don't turn the ball over.
When you look at older teams in the finals, Miami and San Antonio, they're not really the most explosive or athletic team but they're always in the right position defensively.
I think the Pistons have such a well rounded team, which is why they're so successful. All you have to do is look at the stats defensively and at their rebounding and scoring.
When people know that you're going to give them the ball where they want it, then they're going to try to do the same thing for you. And then, they're going to play hard defensively.
I thought we were aggressive across the board defensively, and you could just see it grow. As the game went along, you could see the confidence grow. It showed in the fourth quarter.
I can see what goes on defensively in a game, but 80 or 90 yards away, you can have no idea about the attack or how someone scored. I guess it's once a goalkeeper, always a goalkeeper.
When you play against different people from all walks of life you can't do the same thing against every player defensively or offensively. You have to change up the way you go at a player.
I'm a lot more comfortable in the ring. I'm comfortable catching punches, and defensively, I feel like I've improved a lot. I am banking on my athleticism. I've worked hard on my footwork.
Madrid's anarchy can make planning difficult: they're unpredictable. But if you can be defensively sound and use the ball well, making the most of the space they leave, you can do them damage.
Obviously, I try to play the game in the way that I can help the team. I know I play a little bit more defensively now, more in the role as a team player, but I think I'm doing really well in that.
I've got all these memories of guys just trying to get steals and not being very solid or very good defensively. They have all these steals so they must be a great defender. I usually find it to be the opposite.
I started in a 4-3-3 formation at Ajax, playing in left midfield. There, you need to be just as involved defensively as you are going forward. You attack and you defend, and that allows you to be a complete player.
I like to play attacking football, but I think the big difference is that we expect a lot more from our strikers, to do more pressing and to keep compact. We like to play a high line defensively and press the ball.
The experience of playing EuroLeague ball gave myself a different perspective on just the way the game's played. Every possession matters. Everything has to be on point. Offence, defensively - everybody has to be connected.
As for my speed, I'm not the fastest, but just like in other sports, you learn to stay away from your weaknesses and make more use of your strengths: my shooting ability, court awareness, rebounding, and helping out defensively.
Obviously I get paid to score and create chances, and that's what I have to do. But just at the same time, I have to be able to be responsible defensively, good on face-offs, all the little things that coaches love and that win games.
I don't know what position Scottie was; he was just a basketball player. He could dribble, shoot, pass and rebound. Defensively, he was excellent. He had quick hands and quick feet with a great understanding of the game. He could do it all.
Whites often respond defensively when linked to other whites as a group or 'accused' of collectively benefiting from racism, because as individuals, each white person is 'different' from any other white person and expects to be seen as such.
At one time, we were asked to play your own man; you're responsible for your own man. And, if you were good enough and kind of a ball hawk, you helped everyone else. Now it's really much more of a team concept defensively than it was when we played.
As I'm growing up, going into holding midfield, I'm watching Busquets quite a lot for Barcelona. The way he controls the game, his reading of it, technically, defensively - everything about him cuts him out above the rest. I'm really enjoying watching him.
I think that's part of building your team is trying to anticipate where your team is going and to a certain extent where, especially defensively because you have to react to what they put on the field. Defensively you have to be able to defend those things.
Maybe one of my strengths was to bring the energy to the team, and then defensively, I contributed a lot compared to other players, which is quite essential for the big matches; you know, against big clubs, you need to be very cautious with opponents that attack.
The ball touched the paint a lot of times. When we talk about touching the paint, the ball touches the key for making a layup or making a play for a teammate. We've got to use our length and our speed. Defensively, getting deflections. Give up one shot and rebound.
I could handle the basketball but I wasn't quick enough to move defensively. Offensively, I was fine. I could get around, I could do stuff, but defensively I wasn't quick enough. I couldn't keep up. That was the biggest thing. And that was at the Division II level.
I've always said it, and the whole football world knows that Cavani is a centre-forward and that he has proven his worth in that position. Having said that, Cavani has shown other characteristics that can help the team, like winning the ball back, helping out defensively.
When we are thinking in an attacking moment, I want the goalkeeper thinking, for that, he is the first. The same when we are thinking defensively - I want our strikers to be thinking, 'We need to protect the goalkeepers.' I want those two moments to feel the same for all players.
At Ajax, I got an education in how to be confident on the ball, my technique, and then, at Atletico, I learned how to defend. It was about the details, the ruthlessness; be clinical in front of your own goal, win every duel, be clever. I learned so much and, defensively, I grew there so much.
When you see the floor and you understand the game and you're trying to break it down with what you have in front of you, you can do it offensively and defensively. And you try to take advantage of it both ways. You see where the offense's head is and you can kind of read what you want to do.
The way I play, it's very much more a mental game than a physical game. I'm looking for space and where are players leaving space. Defensively, where are we at numerical disadvantages? Do I shift more to the left because they have more players on their right side? It's about reading the game before the game happens.
I think going to Virginia and playing in that program, you definitely take a lot of ownership in the fact of possessions and understanding the value of each possession. And that goes on both ends. Trying to be as efficient as possible on the offensive end, and not turn the ball over. But then defensively, making everything tough.
From Rick Adelman to Kevin McHale, it was a big difference. Things are a lot stricter with McHale, and with Rick, things are a lot different, offensively, defensively. You go from being successful as hell with one coach and being comfortable with the coach to, yes, I was really successful with Kevin McHale, but I just didn't do it the right way.