Motivation Quote by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

There is a quietly radical honesty in calling wins "stolen". Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who spent much of his career as the inevitable center of gravity on the court, is describing the rare moments when inevitability belonged to someone else. The line strips sports of its usual meritocratic sheen. Better teams, he admits, exist. And sometimes the only path through them is opportunism: a loose ball that becomes a turning point, a foul trouble spiral, one hot shooting quarter that tilts the math.

The intent is practical, almost clinical. Kareem isn’t romanticizing the underdog; he’s naming the strategy. "Hoped" signals humility, but not helplessness. It’s the mindset of a veteran who understands that preparation is table stakes and that outcomes at the highest level can hinge on variance and nerve. "Steal" also carries a competitive edge: victories aren’t politely earned in these matchups, they’re taken, often in ways the superior team will later describe as "giving it away."

Context matters because Kareem’s legacy is built on dominance - records, rings, the skyhook as a near-solved problem for defenses. Hearing him talk like an underdog punctures the myth that greatness is a permanent state. Even dynasties operate on thin margins, and even legends sometimes enter a game aiming less to prove they’re better than to find the crack where "better" can be beaten.