Playoff Success Quotes

At the same time, preparation is important to playoff success.

I am confident that I am a young coach that continues to improve and continues to get better and have been able to find success in the regular season and haven't been able to find it in two completely different circumstances in the playoffs.

It's cool to make the playoffs. It's not cool to lose in the first round anymore. The goal is to make the Finals.

Just like every other kid in my grade school, I was listening to my little radio plug in my ear when Mickey Mantle hit 18 post-season homers and won series after series for the Yankees. I listened and I learned from that. I think he was the original 'Mr. October,' but thank god it didn't stick.

I'm not a guy that believes you've got to have a lot of experience to have success in the playoffs.

When you're 0-2 in the Super Bowl, they say unkind things about you. They say, 'He can't win the big one.' And that's the worst thing that can be said about you.

The season is a beast within itself. It's not the quickest race; it's a marathon. In the playoffs - if you're fortunate enough to make the playoffs - that's more like a dash. You have to concentrate on one opponent. When they're done, you have to concentrate on another one.

One thing you know about playoff competition is this: If you have a hot quarterback and your defense can take the ball away, you don't need to have a dominant defense anymore.

I've been watching basketball for a long time, I'm a historian of the game. I don't know any other team that's gotten to the Finals without two All-Stars... I cannot remember thinking of it. I don't even know if it's ever happened, for a team to lose two All-Stars and still be able to make it to the Finals.

I'm a big believer that if you can have success in the playoffs, when it means the most and when the game is at its highest pace, it always carries into the next year and it gives a player confidence.

I don't just want to play in the playoffs. I want to win the World Series.

There's going to be different kinds of challenges on a yearly basis. You're going to have to overcome injuries, or you overcome a playoff loss or what have you. So there's always challenges in this business.

A team like Brooklyn has seen everything, they've experienced everything, they've had every atmosphere you can have in the playoffs and some of them have won championships. That's the advantage you have as an experienced team and the disadvantage you have as a young team.

To a lot of people, I might just be the guy who went No. 1 in the draft. Or the guy who lost his job to Colin Kaepernick. Or the guy who helped turn a 2-14 Chiefs team into a back-to-back division champ... but then couldn't put them over the top.

Teams that can run the football, stop the run and take care of the football will win in the playoffs.

When you think about Peyton Manning, you think about numbers. When you think about Tom Brady, you think about championships

If you don't win a Super Bowl, you're not considered successful in the National Football League. I can remember, when we finally won that first one, feeling so good for the players and fans.

I think as long as you have Kobe Bryant on your team, anything can happen in the playoffs.

Making the playoffs three consecutive seasons is a great accomplishment.

If we go to the conference finals and people say we had a bad season, I'll take that.

The first thought is always about making the playoffs. That's the tough part. And once you get there, only then you can allow yourself to start thinking how you are going to play in the playoffs against other teams. And a lot is left to chance then. There's an element of luck as well: sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you do not.

I always look at the NBA as kind of a muddled mess in the regular season, and then you just get in the tournament, just get in. And then the great teams just get on a roll and play well or the team that is hot gets hot and goes and wins it.

You have to be able to win on the road if you want to win in the playoffs.

It's not easy to win 60 games in the NBA.

Coach [Pat] Riley's record speaks for itself. What makes him so special is he is a coach clearly concerned about winning. His whole thinking when he wakes up every day is how can I make this team [ New York Knicks] more focused and going through 82 games during the regular season and the playoffs.