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* does not include NBA finals
http://20secondtimeout.blogspot.com/...nsistency.html
Dirk Nowitzki: Model of Consistency
Remember when I asked Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle if he thinks that Dirk Nowitzki is underrated? Instead of suggesting that Nowitzki deserves more acclaim than he receives, Coach Carlisle diplomatically praised the media for voting Nowitzki to the 2009 All-NBA First Team--but Hall of Fame contributor/two-time NBA Coach of the Year/ESPN analyst Hubie Brown completely agrees with my take on Nowitzki. Late in ESPN's Wednesday night broadcast of Dallas' 100-86 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder--during which Nowitzki scored a game-high 35 points on blistering 13-18 field goal shooting while tying for game-high honors with 11 rebounds--play by play announcer Dan Shulman asked Brown, "Is it possible that a guy who has been as good as he is for as long as he has been that good--is it possible Dirk Nowitzki is still a little bit underappreciated?"
Brown immediately replied, "Oh, I think so and I've always felt that way. I feel that for what he has accomplished--and even the year that he won the MVP (2006-07), a lot of guys questioned (why) he won the MVP--and yet when you back up the stats and see everything that he did, it is just one of those freakish things that happen that certain players, no matter what they do, no matter how consistent, no matter how overwhelming their stats are, people still do not want to give them the total recognition."
Nowitzki has averaged at least 21.8 ppg for nine straight seasons and is well on course to make it ten in a row with his career-high tying 26.6 ppg average this season. During that time Nowitzki has averaged at least 8.4 rpg each year (he is slightly behind that pace with an 8.2 rpg average so far this season). As Brown pointed out earlier in the telecast, Nowitzki has consistently been an accurate shooter from the field, three point range and the three point line; during Nowitzki's aforementioned MVP campaign he joined the elite .500 (field goal percentage)--.400 (three point field goal percentage)--.900 (free throw percentage) Club, whose members include sharpshooters Larry Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller and Steve Nash.
For those of you who think you know NBA basketball (but really don't) and say that Nowitzki is not a clutch player, consider that this season he has shot 55-55 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter/overtime--and remember that his playoff scoring and rebounding averages (25.5 and 11.0 respectively) are significantly better than his regular season scoring and rebounding averages (22.5 and 8.4); for comparison purposes, note that renowned playoff assassin Reggie Miller not only averaged fewer points in the postseason than Nowitzki (20.6 ppg) but that Miller's playoff scoring average is 2.4 ppg higher than his regular season scoring average compared to a 3.0 differential for Nowitzki, who advanced past the first round in six of his first 11 seasons while Miller's Indiana Pacers made it out of the first round seven times in 18 seasons.
* does not include NBA finals
The last paragraph just owned 9/10 of Spurstalk
Dirk was very good in the Finals, Wade was great. Wade's better than Dirk, so no shame in that.
How many players have put up a 25/11 in the playoffs for their career?
It's the event in Florida that mars Nowitski's career with a black mark. He's fortunate though in that it's just dull murmurs & hushed tones. It's a gentleman's agreement that he can go in peace and no one will dog him with the particulars of that remarkable time. His punishment is sufficient that it happened, no need to conduct a search for code such as "Kobe can't win it without Shaq." There's no money in such a campaign in Texas. & maybe that will work to Dirk's detriment. Maybe he needs to be shown his failure in broad daylight, each day. Otherwise, it'll cease to have happened.
Honestly people, go and check out games 5 and 6 of the Finals again. Dirk made clutch play after clutch play, the crazy pass to Damp, the rainbow over Shaw, the turnarounds on Haslem. They all would have been remembered as the championship deciding plays had Wade not shot free throw after free throw on the other end.
I accept that he didn't play well in 07, where he was seriously hurt and yet willed it to game 6, but he did what he could have done in 06. Kudos to Wade, for rightfully or not being able to get to the FT line anytime he needed and in process playing better than even Jordan ever did in the Finals.
You have to actually make a factually-based argument instead of regurgitating the Dr. Phil talk.
It's easy to do justice, Fin. Much more difficult to do right.
If you're the best player on your team, you play in 94 playoff games over a 9-year period, and you put up a 25/11 average in those 94 games, then you are one of the best players in the league, a HOF'er and a clutch player. To claim otherwise is asinine.
People who say Dirk "sucked" in the Finals either didn't watch the series or saw only what they wanted to see. He sucked in one of the four Mavs losses. Wade sucked in both of the Heat losses. I give the Heat credit for winning that series because Wade got more help from his teammates, Riley coached circles around Avery, and any time you let a game come down to a single play, you are leaving yourselves open to the refs blowing a call. They are human and make mistakes.
If Wade doesn't get bailed out by Salvatore at the end of Game 5, then Dirk's clutch as running floater over Shaq goes down as one of the all-time great plays in Finals history. He made shots from the field, Wade made free throws from the line. Dirk put up 29 and 15 in the deciding Game 6. He got whistled for a foul with 30 seconds to go in Game 6 when Wade punched him in the stomach. And if you want to bring up Dirk's missed FT at the end of G3 that would've sent the game into overtime, Wade point-blank clanged two free throws with 14 seconds left in G6 that would've iced the game for the Heat and gave the Mavs another chance. And while Salvatore bailed out Wade after he went one on five and recklessly barreled into Dirk at the end of G5, they swallowed their whistles when Gary Payton tried to pull down Terry's shorts on his three-point attempt.
To say Dirk "sucked" in the Finals and it is some sort of detriment or mark against him is laughably off the mark. The Heat won that series fair and square, but they didn't do it by emasculating Dirk.
It's easy to cop the ESPN/Scoop Jackson line instead of setting the record straight.
I didn't cop that line for ESPN/Scoop Jackson. I copped it from "The Winslow Boy"....uh, gd you.
No. Just put out. I finally get a half assed moment to use the line, and you call me on it.
Fair & square come on now ...after ALL of that you dont TRULY believe that!
But I agree Dirk fans here that hate on the Mavs and to msome degree even Mavs fans in DFW (i know live near Frisco, TX) have used the FINALS and THE GSW flop as an indictment of Dirk's game and heart ...
Just this past Monday I as a Laker fan was defending Dirk. they say he is nice but doesnt have the heart to lead a campionship team ...And I ado agree he needs a better #2 option ...but that doesnt mean Dirk cant be a #1 on a winner (though if he were a#2 h'd be killer)
Reggie Miller, AI, Stockton, Malone, Kidd, Dwight, Barkley and Lebron all are HOF'er and future HOf'ers considered to be clutch (except Malone and Dwight maybe) that fell shot in the Finals and have not won one ...
This past decade when you count CONSIsTENT greatness Dirk is only nehind Kobe and Duncan ...
Blaming the refs is weak. The officiating was bad in the Finals, but the Mavs still had a chance to win that series. If you don't want a game to be decided on a single play where Bennett Salvatore will you over, then you need to grab one more rebound, sink one more shot, get one more stop, so that it's a two-possession game instead of a one-possession game where the opposing team can take the lead.
I'll put it this way: If the Mavs hang on to win Game 5 and go home up 3-2, then they win the le. The momentum swings back to them and it's a much different series. Despite all the adversity, the FT disparity, the bull suspension on Stackhouse, they go home up 3-2 and there's no way Miami is getting two straight in Dallas. But having lost all games in Florida, they still had a chance to take care of business on their home court and win the le. They overcame a suspension to JET in the semis and had to go on the road to win a Game 7 in San Antonio, which is a much tougher feat than beating Miami on your home floor.
The officiating was one-sided in the Finals, but I don't like blaming the refs. It's a losers, excuses-making mentality, and the Mavs tweaked their roster at the edges of their rotation instead of making another strong move after coming up just short. If I argue that the Suns can't use the suspensions on Amare and Diaw as a valid excuse for losing to the Spurs, I can't use Salvatore's call and the atrocious officiating in Game 5 as a valid reason why Dallas "unfairly" lost to Miami. I only bring it up in the context of people saying the 06 Finals is some sort of black mark against Dirk.
But I agree Dirk fans here that hate on the Mavs and to msome degree even Mavs fans in DFW (i know live near Frisco, TX) have used the FINALS and THE GSW flop as an indictment of Dirk's game and heart ...
Just this past Monday I as a Laker fan was defending Dirk. they say he is nice but doesnt have the heart to lead a campionship team ...And I ado agree he needs a better #2 option ...but that doesnt mean Dirk cant be a #1 on a winner (though if he were a#2 h'd be killer)
Reggie Miller, AI, Stockton, Malone, Kidd, Dwight, Barkley and Lebron all are HOF'er and future HOf'ers considered to be clutch (except Malone and Dwight maybe) that fell shot in the Finals and have not won one ...
This past decade when you count CONSIsTENT greatness Dirk is only nehind Kobe and Duncan ...
Olajuwon was one of them. 26/11/3 blocks for his career playoff avg.
Bob Pe is another I think. Shaq?
Just 5. Elgin Baylor, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dirk Nowitzki, Bob Pe and Shaquille O'Neal. And it doesn't matter if you lower it down to 25/10, there will still be only these 5.
Elgin Baylor: 134 games / 27.0 ppg / 12.9 rpg
Hakeem Olajuwon: 145 / 25.9 / 11.2
Dirk Nowitzki: 97 / 25.5 / 11.0
Bob Pe : 88 / 25.5 / 14.8
Shaquille O'Neal: 203 / 25.2 / 12.1
Findog, we got ed in the Finals, period. Yeah, we coulda made one more shot, one more rebound, made a few more free throws etc... but that doesn't mean we got straight up hosed son.
It's not a "losers excuse" either... its just a fact of life that the Mavs were on the wrong end of horrendous officiating... and it DOES taint the Heat's le.
*end rant*
Dirk has had better supporting casts than Olajuwon ever did. The thing is he carried their asses all season long, but they stepped up in the postseason. It seems unless it's against the Spurs or Rockets in the playoffs, Dirk's teammates don't step up their game to help him. Dirk is either going to have up his playoff numbers to drag their asses to the le or demand he gets a second star player to help.
Yeah, you did, but, you still are accountable. That's just the way it is.
It's actually amazing to me that the Mavs are 19-7 with JET playing like ass and J-Ho injured for a while... a testament to the greatness of Dirk
But if the supporting cast doesn't pick it up this team will stagnate in the playoffs IMO.
It's actually amazing to me that the Mavs are 19-7 with JET playing like ass and J-Ho injured for a while... a testament to the greatness of Dirk
But if the supporting cast doesn't pick it up this team will stagnate in the playoffs IMO.If the Mavs ever played to their full potential (meaning 2006 J-Ho, Terry not playing like ass, and Marion being considerably more active) then I seriously believe they could challenge the Lakers in the West.
As it is right now, they're solidly 3rd in the West behind LA and Denver.
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