What happened? Has anyone done a quicker 180 than this guy just did. Right before this series started, Bill Simmons put him in his pantheon of NBA greats, including Bird, Magic, Hakeem, etc. I know his stat line was still good, but this guy f'n disappeared in all of the big moments of the Heat series. Dude got exposed for what he is. Jump shooter that got tight when it mattered most.
Actually Nowitski didnt do THAT BAD.. as much as i hate him he definitely held his own and had me scared for a second.. in Game 5 he hit some clutch shots. I knew whoever won that game basically won the series. What a great game it was.
Wrong. He played to get calls constantly, expecting the refs to dictate his game instead of his own play. Avery also expected too much of a radical change from Nowitzki in regards to his game -- going strong to the basket instead of taking advantage of the mismatch he creates and shooting jumpshots. He doesn't have the quickness or strength to be consistent going to the basket, so I thought it was a costly mistake by Avery.
27ppg 11rpg that is great work Nowitski is a stud, it was Jason Terry and Josh Howard and the rest of the supporting cast who blew this game....not Dirk. DD
C'mon DD... don't just look at the box score. The guy had ZERO field goals in the fourth quarter. NONE! Not only that, he wasn't even looking to score... he wasn't demanding the ball... he was playing like he was afraid to lose/screw up, not playing to win. When Miami got into the penalty early, not once did Nowitski (or anybody else, except for Stack) decide to drive it in and use thier awesome FT shooting skills to win the game. He needed to be a leader by example, but instead he showed them how to play scared, jump-shooting, no-fire basketball. He put up great numbers in this series... and for the entire playoffs... but he wasn't anywhere to be found when his team needed him the most (in addition to his horrible games 1 and 4). If anything, Jason Terry had been carrying the Mavs in every 4th quarter... and since he didn't show up last night, they crumbled... you can't be the supposed star of a team if you rely on somebody else to be the one to take/hit every big shot at the end of a game.
not only that he had been shooting 37% in the series before last night. watching the game last night, he was clearly nervous towards the end. nowitzki is a regular season player, I wouldn't even complain if he had won the regular season mvp, but its disturbing how easily he was shut down by t-mac and now the Heat.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/stats?team=dal&seasonYear=2006&season=3&split=14 In the series against Miami, Dirk averaged 22.8 points. Terry averaged 22.0. Dirk shot 39%, Terry 47.7%. Terry, while not shooting great from three, shot much better than Dirk's 25% for the series. Dirk got his 10 boards a game in the finals, but was not much of a defensive factor, averaging 0.67 steals and 0.67 blocks. He also averaged 2.2 TOs, I guess slightly fewer than Terry's 2.5, so hooray for Dirk. Dirk's 9.2 FTA per game salvaged an otherwise underwhelming line (sort of like last year versus the Rockets when he shot about 30% but still averaged 30 points because of the volume of free throws. Yes, the numbers are good, but its hard not to argue that Dirk's play didn't fall off in the Finals when it mattered most. It is also shortsighted to pin blame on Terry, who was probably the Mavs' MVP in the Finals
dirk had a very good series, but he did not come up with the big shots and big plays when his team needed it facing elimination. i thought he played well down the stretch in game 5, but in game 6 he dissapeared when real leaders and nba greats step it up. obviously, dirk still has a good 4-5 years left in him but his legacy is on the line. he had an opportunity to put himself in the same stratosphere as bird, magic, jordan and the other legends but didn't play like a legend. he showed me that he is an excellent offensive force but isn't a leader or a guy with that killer instinct. i think the test of MAN (not just athletes) is how you react and respond to adversity and frustrating circumstances. dirk throws tempertantrums and makes excuses instead taking the attitude that d-wade did when he got down 0-2. he didn't say "screw it, i'm going to take this team on my back and get us a championship by whatever means." instead he decided to kick the ball into the stands, toss around bike machines and kick anything else in sight. we all saw how he chastized terry in last year's playoffs against phoenix. to me he isn't a leader and not a truly great, once in a generation type of athlete and competitor. he's a very good player but can't get his team to that next level. he's still got time left to prove me wrong, but that's what i've seen from him so far.
Dirk did tighten up as the series dragged on. But he definitely made strides this postseason. That play at the end of regulation in Game 7 vs. the Spurs is not something he would've done in years past. The real problem is that in spite of his superstar abilities as a player, he's not a leader. Just witness the way he walked off the court at the end of Game 5 in Miami or his demeanor during the entire 2nd half of Game 6. I don't blame Dirk entirely. He was following the lead of his owner and coach. But the Mavs have to sack up and just play basketball. Did the Heat ever b**** about a single thing this entire series, even when they were down 0-2?
he played the same as he always does. But his jumpshot left him. Dirk's primary weapon is the jumpshot, and when he can't hit those wide open shots, well he's not going to have a good series.
I guess your definition of GREAT is a lot different from most people. Shooting 39% from the field in the series counts as paying great? No......D Wade played great, phenominal, whatever you wanna call it....but Dirk played below avg to avg at best. They won game 1 cuz of Terry ....he lived on the perimeter the whole series cuz he was scurred
Use an athletic defender on him and he still disappoints. Look no further as how TMac abused him and made him his b**** in the Rockets series last year. I cannot imagine that a mediocre player (good defender) like Haslem could cause all the problem on Dirk. Even Posey, who gave up 5-6 inches did a decent job on defense on Dirk. He is still a very good player, and arguably one of the best the NBA games offer these days. Great player? He is not as of yet.
This sums up Dirk's play in the last two seasons: Hes a superstar when it doesn't count....otherwise he just an allstar
This should stop the silly comparisons to Larry Bird. Bird as a rookie seemed like he was more clutch than Dirk is now. But Dirk did step up to another level during these playoffs. Against the Spurs and Suns, he showed he could take over and completely dominate a game when his team needed him. I will no longer laugh when people say he should be first team all-NBA. Dirk is an incredible talent who is higher on the NBA food chain than ever before. His 4th quarter performance (only 2 FTs) was sorry. There is no excuse for that. He choked like a dog. I was telling my son he was seeing the "old Dirk" again instead of the new Dirk that emerged against the Spurs and Suns. I wonder where he will go from here? IMO, he needs to work on a low post game so he can eat up shorter defenders. He made a step in the right direction by shooting fewer 3 pointers and driving to the basket more. When Dirk gets the first step he's impossible to stop because he's too big. Smaller defenders can prevent this so he needs to post these guys up and use his height.
Larry Bird-caliber players don't give the ball up to Eric Dampier with the NBA championship on the line. That is all.
