Since this basketball thing has started, some way or another I've become the most handsomest man in the world, because everybody's like, 'Oh!' I think, 'What's happened to me?'

My plan is to go back to Dallas and build my house. I want a spread 50, 60 or 70 acres. 'Cause Dallas is where everybody's at' that I can really relate to.

You'll hear guys talk all the time about coaches being a father figure. Well I'm 45 years old and I've never met my father. I consider Jerry Tarkanian my father.

I hope people understand that Jerry Tarkanian gave young black males a chance to better themselves and the lives of their families when no one else would. The way Coach talked to me, he spoke my language. I needed that type of voice in my life.

New York fans want a winner. They strive for a winner.

If I'm going to get suspended, I want to hit the guy.

If I put on any pressure. I put it on myself. Nobody else puts pressure on Larry Johnson.

There's a roller coaster effect when you're playing good. Everything seems to go your way. But once you start playing bad, you're playing bad.

You can be totally focused on the game and all of a sudden at the Garden, you'll snap and go, 'Whoa!' It's super loud and you can't help but take a second to admire what's going on.

We never played ball for money. We played because it was fun and I was good at it. But a lot of guys get paid big money to play this game, and I have a family I want to help out. But basketball will always be a game to me.

It hurts to lose night after night.

My main goal is to win me a championship.

I just play the game. Stats aren't a big issue with me. I've been around six or seven years, and I've had stats in this league. I've had individual accomplishments. To me, it's overrated.

I've turned down several assistant jobs in the NBA that I just didn't feel good about. I would love it at UNLV.

My back is terrible, man. I mean, you're always going to have some pain, but nothing that will stop me from doing what I want to do.

When you think about the Knicks, you associate Patrick Ewing with the Knicks, you associate Walt Frazier with the Knicks. If I do all the right things and perform up to my capabilities, I hope you associate Larry Johnson with the Knicks someday, too.

After I signed my big contract, I expected to be in Charlotte for the rest of my career. Things just didn't work out. Now I'm with the Knicks.

I just have to keep working, just stay on top of my game, stay on top of my weight and stay prayed up.

Most people lose weight during the season, but I tend to gain weight during the season.

For me to lose weight or maintain my weight is all about my diet, because I can come here and work two-and-a-half hours twice a day and if I get off my diet and eat like I normally eat, which is bad, I will gain weight.

In Dallas, I eat bean soup and bean pies every day. On Saturdays, I treat myself to a veggie pizza.

The key for me is the way I take care of myself off the floor.

I don't know nothing about the restaurant business, but I've been around a barber shop all my life. That's where I used to get my dates in high school.

I'm an Oakley fan.

Coach Tarkanian is a fighter.

Vegas is my town, my people.

You can't ever get to the point where you don't think you can learn anything more.

I love to drive and run the floor.

JC was good for me. I had a coach who kept me into things and thinking positive. It was good basketball, but more than that it prepared me for the academic scene at a university.

Hey, I'm just another guy coming out of JC. That's the way I think of myself.

I can't continue to have one good game and six bad ones.

When you first come to a team, no one wants to come down and take three or four shots in a row. You want to pass the ball around and get the feel of each other.

It's hard to get guys going and get team morale up when you're over there sitting in a coat and tie. But when you suit up and you go out there and battle with the guys, it's easier.

I'm fond of New York, I've always been.

I'm a big Jeff Van Gundy fan.

After a basketball game, you're gonna be physically tired, but more mentally. Playoff time comes around, you have it all in your head.

To become this N.B.A. player was fun; it just got to be work when I got here.

You got to take everything negative and turn it into a positive. That's always worked for me.

In Vegas we thrived on being the hated team, on being the bad boys. That's definitely not my personality. If that helps my team, helps me play better, then so be it.

I know that nothing is going to be given to me.

Maybe I'm a little biased, but I thought I could always play defense.

If it's a nationally televised game in the past, and I've been scoring 6, 7 and 8 points, I feel like I had a bad game in my mind.

If I'm hurting the team with my play, then maybe I have to sit out a game. If I think I can be effective knowing what I can and can't do, I'll keep going at it.

Guys don't know it - it is New York. It's different from playing in other states. Playing here in New York is different. No way you get around it.

I think we sometimes think, 'it is just preseason. These games are for the fans mostly.' It's for ourselves to get in shape and play against more competition. Let's face it, this is preseason, but you can develop bad habits during preseason.

But when a black player calls a white owner a slave master that's dangerous. It's one thing to say an owner is a good owner or a bad owner, but you have to be careful when you bring race into it.

I just don't want my offense to carry over to my defense. I want to help the team win and be a team player.

I was a bad person. I needed to change. I wasn't bringing anything into my life, but negative. I needed to bring some positive and to do that I've got to start within.

Once your back's up against the wall and you've been beat down, you start looking at trying to do the right thing.

Pippen's best play is to get the ball to No. 23.