DeAndre Hopkins Quotes

On third down, anytime our team needs a play, I want to be the guy that gets the ball.

You gotta learn that if you're gonna take the last shot of the game, it's either gonna go in, or it's not gonna go in, and you're either gonna be the hero or the goat.

That's the thing about pinch-hitting - you usually have a chance to make a difference in the game.

Obviously everyone wants to play a certain way but when you get into certain moments you need someone to hold it up or if you are losing a game, go long.

There comes a point in the game where you gotta make a play or you gotta do something to get your team over the hump, and when that time comes you gotta be able to do it.

Kobe enjoys that situation. Stepping up and making the big basket or being involved in a key play.

I think I've always been a player who's done better in the second half, who's done better in the fourth quarter. That's the fun time to play, when everything you've worked for the whole game boils down to those last few possessions.

You always wonder if you can make plays at the end.

I just want to be in there at the end of the game to try to help the team win. The last six minutes of an NBA game is where you make your name, so hopefully I'm in there trying to help my guys win.

The big-time player makes big-time plays in big-time games and that's what we need to keep doing.

Sometimes it boils down to a move or two and that makes all the difference.

I guess sometimes when the game is on the line you kind of focus a little more.

When you have an opportunity to help your team in crunch time - as a kicker - that's a dream come true.

There are definitely times during a game when you need someone to step up and make a play.

I love pressure. I don't know why, but I love the pressure of, 'oh it's third-and-five' or it's the two-minute drill and someone has to make a play. I'm that guy.

If you've got one guy you know is going to get that ball in crunch time, it's easier to defend him. But if you have five guys who can get that ball in crunch time, it's harder.

At halftime [of Game 7], one of our oldest guys on the team, James Jones, came to me, and he's like, "Man, it's time for you to do something. You've been sleeping the whole playoffs, the whole final series." First couple of shots I got coming out, I was like, "You know what, I'm gonna shoot it." Fortunately they fell, and we started making our way back.

Coming into a game in the eighth or ninth inning is like parachuting behind enemy lines. And sometimes the chute doesn't open. You have to live with that. It's an occupational hazard.

It doesn't matter what you do for 45 minutes, it's what you do the last three minutes.

My strength is coming up with two outs in the last of the ninth.

Opportunities are running out, and this is the do-or-die situation when the ball is in your hands, and you can either help your team to victory or not. And so I want to be in those situations. I think about them, and almost look forward to them.

I loved to hit with men on base and with the game on the line.

I know I have the ultimate eye of confidence to take a shot down the stretch if a coach needs me to do it.

I've always been kind of a fourth-quarter guy.

Those are the moments people remember at the end of the game: You make a big shot. 'Yeah, he made a big shot.' I feel like those are the moments I work for and make sure I'm always ready for.