Nice Article on Dirk and the Series in NY Times

[Stranger]

Nowitzki Rises Above Din for Dallas

by Howard Beck
Published: May 12, 2009

DALLAS — Chaos reigned Monday night at American Airlines Center, where the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets traded big shots and hard fouls, piled up technicals and otherwise dispensed with decorum.

There were tense exchanges on the court and bad feelings in the stands, where Mavericks fans reportedly harassed family members of the Nuggets’ players. Amid the din, the Nuggets pushed the Mavericks to the brink of elimination. But only to the brink.

Before the Nuggets could clinch their first trip to the conference finals in 24 years, before any post-mortems on the Mavericks’ era as title contenders, Dirk Nowitzki made a stand. He scored 19 points in the fourth quarter, 8 in the final three minutes, and delayed the symbolic passing of the torch in the Western Conference by leading Dallas to a 119-117 victory.

In the previous week, Nowitzki had heard his manhood questioned on national television, weathered the arrest of his live-in girlfriend and lived through the heartbreak of the Mavericks’ disputed Game 3 defeat as Denver took a 3-0 lead in this conference semifinal series.

But Nowitzki, who finished with 44 points Monday, had one more quarter of brilliant basketball in him and enough myopic determination to keep the Mavericks’ season alive.

“Dirk, he’s got that German engineering,” said Mark Cuban, the Mavericks’ owner. “He has a lot of focus and concentration, and this is important to him.”

The torch may soon be passed from the aging Mavericks, an N.B.A. finalist in 2006, to the spry Nuggets, a surprise contender in the Western Conference — and from Nowitzki to Carmelo Anthony, who had a career playoff-best 41 points in Game 4. It may happen Wednesday night, when the series returns to Denver.

The Nuggets have been building toward this moment for six years, since the day they selected Anthony with the third pick in the N.B.A. draft. They have been loaded with talent but handicapped by volatility and immaturity, which they had shown in losing five straight first-round playoff series.

It is not often that a team makes such a huge leap in one season, but the Nuggets are poised to make the conference finals for the first time since 1985.

“We’ve definitely grown up as a team,” said point guard Chauncey Billups, whose arrival in a November trade stabilized the Nuggets and put them on this path.

A Denver native, the 32-year-old Billups says he senses a changing of the guard after several years of watching Dallas, San Antonio and Phoenix vie for Western Conference supremacy.

“We got a young ball club, guys going through a lot of things for the first time,” he said. “I’d like to think that we’re going to be here for a while.”

Anthony, a key member of the United States team that won Olympic gold last summer in Beijing, is finally living up to his superstar billing. Billups, the most valuable player of the 2004 finals for Detroit, has brought a championship mind-set. Two of the Nuggets’ more combustible players, Kenyon Martin and J. R. Smith, have kept themselves in check. Nene, a 2002 lottery pick who once seemed to be a bust, is blossoming at center.

The Mavericks have been slipping since they blew a 2-0 lead in the 2006 finals and lost the championship to the Miami Heat. Dallas failed to win a playoff series the next two years but made it out of the first round this season by knocking out their fading rivals, the San Antonio Spurs.

“They’re not that 67-win team, if that’s what you’re asking me,” Billups said, referring to the Mavericks of 2006-7. “They’re probably a little different at this stage.”

Dallas has been at these crossroads before. The Mavericks rose in the West behind Nowitzki, Michael Finley and Steve Nash, made the transition to Nowitzki, Josh Howard and Devin Harris, then finally to Nowitzki, Howard and Jason Kidd. Their acquisition of Kidd in February 2008 was supposed to put the Mavericks back in title contention, but it appears they will come up short again. Kidd, 36, is a free agent this summer, which could signal another shift for the franchise.

Yet this series could easily be tied, 2-2. Dallas lost a disputed Game 3 when referees failed to call an intentional foul by Antoine Wright on Anthony in the final seconds. Anthony hit a game-winning 3-pointer on the play, and the N.B.A. later admitted that the officials should have called a foul.

In the emotional aftermath, Cuban and Howard tangled with cameramen on the court, and Cuban had a heated exchange with Martin’s mother. Martin angrily vowed to “take care of it” with Cuban, raising concerns about his intent. Late Monday, Cuban issued an apology on his blog to Martin and his family, and to members of the Nuggets’ traveling party who were harassed at American Airlines Center.

It has been that kind of series, starting with Martin’s forearm shove of Nowitzki in Game 1, an act that earned Martin a $25,000 fine from the league.

Two nights later, the cerebral Nowitzki was mocked by the TNT studio analysts after he complimented Martin and the Nuggets’ other big men for their defense on him. “I never heard a true warrior, never heard a true dog say someone can guard me,” said Chris Webber, who went on to say that Nowitzki was “throwing rose petals” at Martin and Chris Andersen.

The lowest point for Nowitzki, however, came Thursday, when reports surfaced that a woman said to be his live-in girlfriend had been arrested for theft and for a violation of probation. The Dallas Morning News reported that the woman, Cristal Taylor, “has a history of financial crimes and numerous identities that dates back at least a decade.”

Nowitzki has not commented on the matter, other than telling reporters last week, “It’s pretty obvious that I’m going through a tough time in my personal life right now.”

The chaotic backdrop made Nowitzki’s brilliant Game 4 performance all the more impressive. The Mavericks had trailed by as many as 14 points. But Nowitzki led the comeback, and with 65 seconds left, he gave them the lead for good, on a difficult turnaround fadeaway over Martin — “a force of sheer will to get that ball in the basket,” Coach Rick Carlisle said.

That show of determination in the face of disappointment and personal turmoil stood in sharp contrast to the clichéd characterizations of Nowitzki as a soft superstar.

“There’s very few guys I’ve been around in this league as strong-willed as him,” Carlisle said late Monday night. “Kidd’s one of them, Larry Bird’s one of them. Not many others. Reggie Miller’s one of them. But there are very few you ever run across in this game. I just was really happy for him.”

For the Mavericks, happiness and championship dreams would last at least 48 more hours.



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[left texas]

Nice read, thanks.

[ghazi]

Good article, thanks.

Wish observers would talk more about Dirk's brilliance this series rather than the off court issues this series. He's been the 2nd best player in playoffs so far (Lebron obviously 1st).

[Dirkenstien]

Great article. Dirk is a true man's man. I'm proud to have him on our team and representing the city of Dallas.

[croco]

Not any new facts in the article, but a good summary and most importantly he gets some recognition in a newspaper known throughout the world.