Lakers admire Dirk Nowitzki’s path toward greatness

DALLAS – The defensive principles all looked perfect, as Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. appeared determined in every way imaginable not to allow his opponent to score on him.

Nance planted both of his feet and kept his balance. He placed his left hand lightly behind his opponent’s back to keep him in check. Once his opponent established triple-threat position, Nance moved closer to give him little room to operate. But like most of his defenders that have tried to use the same tactics, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki showed once again how very few times do those strategies actually work.

In signature fashion, Nowitzki stepped back into the air, lifted his arc of his shot and sank the ball into the net. It only seemed fitting that Nowitzki scored his 30,000th career point in the same way he logged the 29,998 others. In the Lakers’ 122-111 loss to the Mavericks on Tuesday at American Airlines Center, Nowitzki became the sixth player in NBA history to reach the 30,000 points mark after posting a team-leading 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Nowitzki also became the first international member of an elite club occupied by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.

“I happened to be who he crossed the line on, but there’s a lot of other games between me and that last first point, I’m not worried about it,” Nance said. “I played solid defense. But Dirk is Dirk. There’s a reason he has 30,000 points. He’s a seven footer leaning back that can shoot. Good luck.”

That reality left the Lakers both frustrated and in awe that they became a footnote of Nowitzki’s record-setting night.

The Lakers became frustrated as they seemed helpless guarding Nowitzki, who scored 18 first-quarter points. Though Nowitzki reached the 30,000 point mark after nailing a step-back baseline jumper over Nance for a 42-30 lead with 10:57 left in the second quarter, the game did not stop until about a minute later. After Nowitzki added a 25-foot 3-pointer, the Lakers called timeout at the 9:53 mark, setting up the Mavericks to play a video tribute to their 38-year-old future Hall of Famer.

Lakers coach Luke Walton admitted, “you’re upset it happens against you as a team.” Without any prompting, Walton remembered that Nowitzki became the 34th player in league history to score 20,000 points when he hit a 14-foot jumper on Jan. 13, 2010 over former Lakers forward Lamar Odom. Nance called the No. 7 “a cursed number” considering that marked the number both Odom and Nance have worn.

“A lot of his go-to shots were what defenders would normally think, ‘Those are shots you want him to take.’ You feel like you played good defense on him. But those are shots he’s trying to get to,” Walton said. “He’s always one of the most challenging people to guard. It didn’t really matter how well you defended him. He was going to get that shot off. There’s a good chance he was going to make it.”

But the Lakers also seemed in awe with both Nowitzki’s greatness, and the path he took to get there.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban considered Nowitzki part of the NBA’s top 10 players of all time, while arguing he “changed the game.” Cuban also argued Nowitzki as the league’s greatest power forward ever.

“Just because of his versatility,” Cuban said. “He can do anything on the court. For a guy who is 7 foot, that’s something special.”

While Walton called Nowitzki “one of the all-time greats,” few hardly envisioned him fulfilling that description, though, when the Mavericks acquired him in a trade on draft night in 1998.

“When Dirk first entered the league, he was not the Dirk Nowitzki that we know today,” Nance said. “He struggled and had a little bit of a rocky start. But he was sticking with it. With the work he put in and the work ethic he has, just being professional day in and day out, that’s what you can hope to emulate. Everybody wants to have that kind of rise from struggling.”

Nowitzki eventually rose toward landing 13 NBA All-Star appearances, winning an NBA title (2011) and a Finals MVP award. And in his 19th NBA season, the 38-year-old Nowitzki looked like “young Dirk” in Walton’s eyes. He opened the game making his first six shots with a wide range of mid-range jumpers and 3-point shots. The crowd cheered loudly over every basket. And the Lakers experienced flashbacks of Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour, only the NBA’s legends points did not help their team.

“You can’t stop his right shoulder fade,” Lakers forward Julius Randle said. “You have to make him uncomfortable and get into him and make him work for everything. You have to make him work on the other end as well.”

Plenty have said the same thing about Bryant, whom Walton argued Nowitzki shared the same kind of work ethic. Randle, who grew up outside of Dallas, also saw the Mavericks’ fanbase viewing Nowitzki as “their Kobe.” In turn, Bryant wrote on Twitter to Nowitzki that “you are a true great.”

“I was a Kobe fan. Honestly, I absolutely hated Dirk growing up. As I got older and wiser, obviously, I was able to fully appreciate his greatness as I learned the game of basketball,” Randle said. “He’s an amazing player. Congrats to him. He didn’t get here by being a tall seven-footer that could really shoot. He really worked on his craft and really perfected his craft and his game. Anything you can take from the greats, it’s his work ethic.”

All of which served as the crux of Walton’s post-game message. Even if the Lakers felt deflated over yet another loss and having no answer for Nowitzki, their only solution entails logging in more hours to perfect their craft.


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