Nowitzki Continues to keep Mavericks in Playoff Hunt
The Southwest division of the NBA has five very tough teams in the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, New Orleans Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies.
The Spurs lead the division by 5 games over Houston and 8 games over Dallas. The Mavericks are having a stronger season that last year and currently sit in the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Much of the Mavericks success this season, as with previous seasons, has been the play of veteran forward Dirk Nowitzki.
The Dallas shooting forward is one of the best players to play for the Mavericks and is still playing at a high caliber even though he is entering the twilight of his great career.
Last season Nowitzki was slowed by an injured knee. This season not much attention has been given to the Mavericks in part because many feel they are not a serious playoff threat and will be knocked out in the first round if they qualify for the postseason.
Even though Nowitzki is not getting the headlines, he is once again producing some fine numbers each and every game. Nowitzki is averaging over 21 points a game, which makes him just the 10th player in NBA history to average 20 points or more after turning 35 years of age. Of the ten, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had a higher shooting percentage than does Nowitzki.
Nowitzki has always had one of the best shots in the game. He is never out of range and his step back fade away has been a thing of beauty for years.
Even Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant never mastered the shot like Nowitzki. His skill level is so high when it comes to shooting that his age just never seems to factor into the equation.
This season Nowitzki continues to climb the all time scoring list having passed Jerry West, Reggie Miller and Alex English.
If Nowitzki continues on his same pace all season, he will have 26,750 career points. That will put him past John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson and Dominique Wilkens, placing him No. 10 on the all time scoring list.
If he were to have 2 more 20 points per game seasons or 3 where he averaged 15 per game, he would become the sixth player in league history to reach the 30,000-point plateau.
During his career, Dirk has averaged over 26 points per game in the playoffs, which is eighth in NBA history, even higher than Bryant’s 25.6.
Nowitzki has carried much of the load his entire career. He has played with only one player who has averaged 20 points a game and that was Michael Finley in 2001. He has had a teammate on the All-Star team 6 times and just twice in the past 12 seasons.
Since his second season in the league, the team has not had a losing season and only San Antonio has won more games since then.
This season Nowitzki has revitalized the career of Monta Ellis, who was signed during the offseason by the Mavericks. This has helped the team and taken the burden of Nowitzki somewhat on the offensive end.
The Mavericks might not go far in the postseason or might not make it all, but it will not be due to the lack of effort from the 35-year future Hall of Famer.
