Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk Werner Nowitzkiis a German professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. An alumnus of Röntgen Gymnasium and the DJK Würzburg basketball club, Nowitzki was chosen as the ninth pick in the 1998 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and immediately traded to the Mavericks, where he has played since. Listed at 7 ft 0 in, Nowitzki is considered one of the greatest power forwards in basketball history...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth19 June 1978
CountryGermany
I like our chances on the road, and we're a good road team. We have guys who can hit big shots down the stretch, and we've won big games on the road. It's another good test.
It's kind of hard not to get caught up in the race. You're half a game up, half a game down. There's pressure on every game now.
It's going to be a big game, a fun game. That's about all it is. But there's a big difference in being the first seed and the fourth seed. All we can do is go for it. Even if we should lose, there's a lot of basketball to be played.
They adjusted and double-teamed me. I've got to do a better job finding the open man. More than anything, we know now we need a little more consistency for longer stretches.
They're going to play with a chip on their shoulder. They got the best record in the league, and they're going to come out firing. They're so balanced, you can't really concentrate on one guy. It should be a great defensive battle.
That's obviously not the greatest situation, but there's nothing we can do about it. It's a bad time for injuries, but better now than in another month.
I tried to stay aggressive. That's what the team wants me to do. I tried to make things happen during that stretch.
It's two disappointing loses but we can't really hang our heads down because we were right there. We had our chances to beat both of them. We know what we need to do. We still have over 20 games left. We have to improve on both ends of the floor. We'll work harder in practice and be there hopefully be there in April, May and June.
This is a big win and now we have an opportunity for another big win (Saturday against New Orleans). We need to run them all if we really want this thing.
It's tough to win games like that. We really got lucky.
They had us backpedaling. But right before halftime, we got a great push and then carried it into the second half.
There was a lot of hacking going on.
He's one of the best shooters in the league and we found him in transition. He ran right to the line and when he gets his feet set, he can shoot with the best of them. Those shots kind of put (Portland) away.
He's improved so much over his three-year career already. It's amazing. The sky is the limit.