Some thoughts from Pat Riley in Charlie Jones' book, "What Makes Winners Win.""If your goal is to have the best record in the league, and you’re talented enough to have the best record in the league, then there’s never an excuse to lose to a team that is not as good as you are, regardless of the conditions."
"I never believed in the theory that on any given night, anybody could beat you. I don’t believe in that. I mean if you’re better than the Spurs or the Nuggets or the Los Angeles Clippers, then you should beat them."
"The way you get to be really great in this league is to defeat the teams that you’re supposed to defeat, and there are never any excuses about that."
"We work on that all the time and talk about it. I don’t care if we’re tired. I don’t care if this is the third game in four nights, we’re playing a team that we’re better than. If we have this goal in mind, establishing our position to get the best edge in the playoffs, then we’re going to win. Very rarely did we ever lose those games."
