The most important rule is to play great defense, not great offense. Everyday I assume every position I have is wrong. I know where my stop risk points are going to be. I do that so I can define my maximum drawdown. Hopefully, I spend the rest of the day enjoying positions that are going in my direction. If they are going against me, then I have a game plan for getting out.
Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso was always bemused by our enthusiasm for tackling, because he saw it as the last resort.
I don't like attacking.
As foreign attacks increase, it's easy to treat them like bad weather happening somewhere else. It's what we read over breakfast. But when that storm hits your shores, remember this: Wishful thinking never saved a single life. The truth, however, has.
It doesn't matter how many goals you score; one goal is enough if you don't let one in your net.
He who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.
You never lose a game if the opponent doesn't score.
There is always more spirit in attack than in defense.
I've had some difficulties, but I've also done some good things on defense. So it's just all about effort... You've got to take it personal and work as hard as you can on that end of the floor.
Defensive guys don't really understand. It's totally different for offense. Defensive guys are convinced they know us but they just don't understand. Quarterbacks have so much that they have to read and adjust to. They have to look at everybody on the defense. It's totally different for the offense.
You've got to want to play defence. Nobody really wants to play defence. It's boring. It sucks. You don't get the flashiness, the scores, the dunks. But you've got to have it.
You have to play defense, that's how you win.
The idea that a war can be won by standing on the defensive and waiting for the enemy to attack is a dangerous fallacy, which owes its inception to the desire to evade the price of victory.
That's how you get better on defense; not just 'oh, man, my guy beat me,' but you have to think about, 'okay, my man beat me, so I either have to pick up the next man, or I'm going to give somebody a foul.
It's sometimes easier to defend a one goal lead than a two goal lead.
Defenders see things way different than blockers.
As someone who has carved out a career in this league by making winning plays, being tough on defense and just generally doing the dirty work for my team, I always hesitate to say any player is unguardable. I just hate that term.
I'm one of the best defenders to ever play basketball, so I'm still the first option on defense.
I'm just going to do my job, what coach wants me to do, be a defensive piece, and when needed to be a scorer, I'm going to be that.
The best place to defend is in the opposition penalty box.
Every rookie that thought they was good, I went at them to make sure they knew I was the best point guard in the league, and they had to go through me. That's just the way I was.
He is the furthest from danger, who is on his guard even when in safety.
Against our zone, even really good offensive teams take longer than usual to get into their patterns, maybe 30 seconds. So we're locked into playing defense for that long... it's hard to run on offense after you've been hunkering down on D for that long.
As a West Side kid fooling around with boxing gloves, I had been, for some reason of temperament, more interested in dodging a blow than in striking one.
I'd rather save a home run than hit one. I've always been like that. Defense is what I pride myself on.
