Official Dirk is Great Thread

[mavs777]

Dirk is 4rth player in NBA history to have 11 straight seasons of 1600 Points and 500 rebounds the other 3? Oh just Karl Malone, Moses Malone, and Kareem

[mavs777]

Dirk is 4rth player in NBA history to have 11 straight seasons of 1600 Points and 500 rebounds the other 3? Oh just Karl Malone, Moses Malone, and Kareem

[mavs777]

Dirk is 4rth player in NBA history to have 11 straight seasons of 1600 Points and 500 rebounds the other 3? Oh just Karl Malone, Moses Malone, and Kareem

[mavs777]

dbl post

[JeffViggiano]

amazing dirk

[Budapest Maverick]

Originally Posted by mavs777

dbl post

More like a triple, or quadrible post, but it's a great piece of info. I think Dirk has another record in the playoffs which only Kareem and one other player can tell about themselves, but can't remember what it is. Also, i'm pretty sure Dirk has a top 3, or top 5 defensive rebound rate in the history of the playoffs. Just a straight up beast, really.

[Dirkadirkastan]

Quad posts have run amok since the server upgrade.

[mavErika]

Batum on defending Dirk:

There's no one better in the NBA at hitting off-balance shots than Dirk Nowitzki. You can play him as close as the referees will allow, defend his tendencies to perfection, and he'll still hit a one-legged fadeaway in your grill at the shot clock buzzer.

Nicolas Batum has seen Nowitzki hit that kind of shot time and time again, but hitting leaning jumpers that would be low-percentage shots for almost anyone else in the league isn't the craziest thing Nic has seen Dirk do.

"I saw (Nowitzki) practice in the offseason five, six years ago," said Batum. "I was in Italy. It was crazy. He was with Basketball Without Borders. This guy, I know why he's still good now because he works out so hard. In a different way, because he do some crazy (stuff). He walks on his hands. Up and down the court walking on his hands to work on his balance."

Maybe that's why Nowitzki is one of the best in the game at getting off quality shots while seemingly falling down. And maybe that's why Batum will spend much of his energy during the first round series against the Mavericks trying to make Nowitzki shoot those very same shots that have made him one of the most difficult players to guard.

"I watch a lot of film about (Nowitzki)," said Batum. "Just try to stop him. He got a lot of strengths, but he's got some weakness, so I try to learn his weakness. He's going to be tough to guard, especially in playoff mode. He just wants a ring. He's got everything but the ring. I know he wants a ring, so it's going to be tough to guard him."

http://blogs.trailblazers.com/Broadc...4/Default.aspx

[Murphy3]

Batum seems to respect him alot..

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Batum seems to respect him alot..

Seems like everyone who's actually had to guard Dirk respects him...

[Bayliss]

Seems like everyone who's actually had to guard Dirk respects him...

Except for Chris Webber. Of course, Webber didn't really "guard" Dirk because Dirk usually lit him up.........

[LetsGoMavs]

Originally Posted by LetsGoMavs

I rarely quote myself...but man...

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Seems like everyone who's actually had to guard Dirk respects him...

..chris webber? Actually, I think Webber is jealous of Dirk...and pissed that a white Euro is better than he ever was.

[JeffViggiano]

chris webber?do you talk about that shit? i don't care what he says.

incredible 4th quarter by dirk yesterday.18points

we were at -6 and we won.amazing.

[sefant77]

Who is Chris Webber?

Dont remember him...did he do anyhting significant or impressing?

[sefant77]

Who is Chris Webber?

Dont remember him...did he do anyhting significant or impressing?

[bernardos70]

He called a timeout when there wasn't one to be called.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH1ujxNwrkA

[xrobx]

Originally Posted by sefant77

Who is Chris Webber?

Dont remember him...did he do anyhting significant or impressing?

1994 rookie of the year

the timeout thing technically never happened since michigan forfeited their final foul appearances

[Dirkules41]

I cant get why Dirk gets so much hate around the internet, hes a nice guy and a great player and deserves some respect from NBA fans.

[Murphy3]

He's white.

[Rick41]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

He's white.

He also doesn't air 6,000 different commercials throughout the NBA season.

[DirkFTW]

Originally Posted by sefant77

Who is Chris Webber?

Dont remember him...did he do anyhting significant or impressing?

Here's something impressive

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by DirkFTW

Here's something impressive

15 years of crying and whining during NBA play builds lung capacity.

[Dirkules41]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

He's white.

I would say its rather because he is from Europe. Other white player like Nash, Love or Bird get respect.

[Murphy3]

Bird was a different era.. The NBA has changed drastically since then. In large part, you have a few people that belittled Dirk because his game wasn't above the rim.. he was labeled as soft because he was a white guy that was having success in a largely African American sport. He wasn't "in your face"..so, you catch a little crap from people because you're "soft" and respectful of your opponents and I suppose the ball starts rolling from there. The misconceptions kinda take off and catch on like wild fire. Pretty soon, misconceptions become realities to fans on the whole. Hell, just listen to the crap he takes in Dallas. He's respected more around the country than he is here in this area.

[Murphy3]

double post...

[Dirkules41]

What crap did he take in Dallas? Only thing ive read about that some fans dont think he is the leader to guide this team to a titel.

[Dirkules41]

What crap did he take in Dallas? Only thing ive read about that some fans dont think he is the leader to guide this team to a titel.

[BGMaverick9]

Dirk Nowitzki Continues to Shine in the Playoffs

http://www.mavsfastbreak.com/2011/04...he-playoffs-2/

[badfish22]

Dirk shot an incredible 53% on midrange shots this year. I can't find anyone who matches that, and its hard to find people who even get close.

[OSUmavsfan]

Originally Posted by badfish22

Dirk shot an incredible 53% on midrange shots this year. I can't find anyone who matches that, and its hard to find people who even get close.

http://hoopdata.com/shotstats.aspx Surprisingly, Al Horford shot better than Dirk on 16-23 footers, but he was the only one that did so with a substantial number of attempts. Still, I would imagine all of his were set shots off a pass, while Dirk had to create a lot of those shots for himself.

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by Dirkules41

What crap did he take in Dallas? Only thing ive read about that some fans dont think he is the leader to guide this team to a titel.

Listen to the local sports talk shows from time to time...

[dalger]

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/feature...s=iref:nbahpt1

Nowitzki's Game 1 proves how wrong perception can be

Posted Apr 19 2011 3:29PM

DALLAS -- The startling discrepancy between the perception and reality about Dirk Nowitzki should surprise no one.

He suffers from the same condition that any player with Hall of Fame credentials, minus the ultimate hardware, suffers from.

"Yeah, he's a great player and all, but ..."

The perception is that Nowitzki still has to prove his mettle to the basketball public, one that hasn't forgiven him or his Mavericks for their playoff stumbles of the past -- and that includes their slip-ups in the first rounds in three of the last four years and that nasty flameout in the 2006 NBA Finals.

The reality is that Nowitzki has never been tougher to deal with for the opposition. The Portland Trail Blazers were reminded of that in their Game 1 loss to the Mavericks as a sluggish Nowitzki got off to a 4-for-12 shooting start (he had more turnovers than field goals at one point) before roasting them for 18 points in a game-defining 10-minute stretch in the fourth quarter.

Dealing with the perception and reality of Nowitzki is the Trail Blazers' charge in tonight's Game 2 at American Airlines Center.

There is no tougher assignment in basketball, so says Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan, who watched his team defend the 7-foot Nowitzki as well as humanly possible for three quarters Saturday night only to see it all go up in smoke.

"Dirk is the toughest matchup in the league, because he can go inside and he can take you outside. And put the ball on the floor," McMillan said. "You put a big guy on him he can take him outside and go by him. You put a smaller guy on him and he can post him up anywhere on the floor and shoot over him. Then, as you saw [Saturday] night, he can draw fouls."

McMillan wasn't taking another shot at the officiating. His $35,000 fine for public comments about the officiating, dished out Monday, was already in the books. McMillan was simply stating the obvious, showing how the perception of Nowitzki is easily trumped by the reality. The Mavericks star was a perfect 13-for-13 from the line in Game 1, all of those coming in that final 10 minutes, when his teammates were demanding that he seize control of the game.

"My teammates were telling me to keep attacking and things will start happening your way," Nowitzki said. "And that's what happened."

A giant softy, one of the most common criticisms of Nowitzki over the years, doesn't repeatedly beat double teams and contort his 84 inches in ways that defy the laws of advanced elasticity. No player in basketball is more effective while playing what appears to be off balance on offense, for long stretches on offense.

"I don't know how to explain it," Trail Blazers forward Gerald Wallace said of Nowitzki's knack for being able to get shots off from seemingly impossible positions. "But I've been watching him do it since I came into the league. It works for him."

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle agrees.

"Dirk's very unique and the thing that I identify his game with is resourcefulness," Carlisle said. "When he came into the league, a lot of people thought he was going to be a small forward. After a relatively short period of time Nelly (former Mavs coach Don Nelson) made the determination that he was going to play the four. Dirk made the adjustments in his game and has become one of the most difficult-to-guard players ever, because he can drive it, he can post, he can play one-on-one and he can shoot. He's just extremely unique."

There is perhaps no better definition for Nowitzki's game than truly unique.

He's one of just four players in NBA history with playoff averages of 25 points and 10 rebounds, joining an elite club that includes Hakeem Olajuwon, Bob Pettit and Elgin Baylor. The Mavs' postseason stumbles aside, Nowitzki has put together an impressive body of playoff work in the past decade. He has 66 career postseason double-doubles, good for 20th all-time.

Once again, you have perception and reality going toe-to-toe where Nowitzki is concerned.

Even on a night when Jason Kidd tallied a playoff career-high six 3-pointers, it was Nowitzki that sealed the deal for the Mavericks in Game 1 with his work at crunch time. In addition to the free throws, it was his 3-pointer from the corner with 3:40 to play that took the Mavericks from down two to up by a point, a lead they wouldn't surrender.

"That really energized our building and energized our team," Carlisle said. "From that point on we really started to get some stops consistently. He stayed with it. And when we talk about the importance of persistence on our team, he was a great example of that, because it wasn't going great necessarily the whole game. These games are going to test you that way."

Game 2 provides yet another test for Nowitzki and one more chance for him to prove that your perception is not his reality.

Sekou Smith is a veteran NBA reporter and the author of NBA.com's Hang Time blog.

[Dirkules41]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Listen to the local sports talk shows from time to time...

Not that easy if you are from germany.

[fluid.forty.one]

Dirk passed Bill Russell for 25th all-time playoff scoring.

[mavs777]

you sure? http://www.nba.com/statistics/encyc/...t=all&x=31&y=5

[fluid.forty.one]

Yes, I'm sure. That NBA.com link isn't updated for whatever reason. All current players on there are lower than they should be (they are missing about 700 kobe points, for instance)

on NBA.com if you go to Players -> you will see that Dirk had 2,660 points coming into night and that is also confirmed by basketball-reference.com

[JeffViggiano]

dirk is god!!!!

[Budapest Maverick]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

He's white.

...and european.

[JeffViggiano]

Originally Posted by Budapest Maverick

...and european.

i'm white and european too!me and dirk are similar