It Was a Wonderful Week for the Dallas Mavericks
However, as marvelous as it was, there is one big concern that needs to be addressed.
Today was a good day.
“Well, actually,” as my nephew likes to say, it was a good week. However, not for me, but for the Dallas Mavericks.
Why?
Because two amazing things happened to them.
First, the Dallas Mavericks erected (or unveiled) a statue of Dirk Nowitzki earlier this week, on Christmas Day, in front of a crowd of fans.
After the uncovering, Nowitzki said that everything at that moment was perfect.
Via Hypebeast:
“It was emotional,” commented Nowitzki. “When the thing went up, felt like the sun was just perfect today, just shining right on it.”
Nowitzki is a Mavericks’ legend and played his entire career for Dallas.
(Sidenote: He is the only player in NBA history to play 21 seasons for one single team.)
In two decades with the team, he won them one championship title and led them to two NBA Finals.
For personal accolades, he won one MVP title, one Final’s MVP award, and was elected to 14 NBA All-Star teams, and 12 All-NBA teams. He was also part of the NBA 75th Anniversary team.
Dirk was a unique player with his playstyle, where he evolved how the power forward position was played.
When he reached his prime and was dominating opponents with his fadeaways and mid-range jumpers, every single team yearned for a player like him.
The Toronto Raptors (Andrea Bargnani), New York Knicks (Kristaps Porzingis), and a couple of other teams tried to draft the “next Dirk” but none of them succeeded. None of the draftees were skilled enough to do what Dirk did.
He’s just a one-of-one.
Nowitzki did a lot for the city and for the organization, and that statue is truly deserved.
Luka’s Puts Up Magical Numbers
The second amazing thing that happened to Dallas this week was Luka Doncic’s stellar performance on Tuesday, Nov. 27.
The Mavs played against the New York Knicks and he (must have) sprinkled some extra Luka Magic in his energy drink before tip-off and went bonkers.
He scored 60 points on 68 percent shooting, grabbed 21 rebounds, and dished out 10 assists in 47 minutes.
Luka is the first player in NBA history to have this kind of stat line (a 60-plus points and 20-plus rebounds triple-double).
The only players who have come close were Wilt Chamberlain (twice) and Elgin Baylor, who both scored less than 55 points while grabbing 20-plus rebounds.
Additionally, he now has the most 50+ point games in Mavs history.
However -and I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer here because it has been all positive news for the team- but I want to bring up one thing that is of concern for the Mavericks.
Even though Luka and company got the win, they barely beat an undermanned Knicks team in overtime. The final score was 126-121.
And if Luka has to put up 2K numbers every game just to get a win, he’s eventually going to run out of fuel.
He even said after the game that he was “tired as hell” and needed a “recovery beer.”
So, as great as it is to witness Luka put up record-breaking types of numbers on a regular basis, the Mavericks need to do for him what they did for Dirk back in 2010-11 if they want to win a title -get him some help.
Because how great is a legendary stat line if you don’t win (ahem, Devin Booker)?
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