Not really.
Dirk comes off as the kind of person that holds back emotions and feelings. Well, I know he can get angry or excited during games but before and after games he's pretty mellow and laid back. He probably didn't say anything after the game because he's going through a bad time right now.
I wish Chris Paul had the talent that Dirk has around him.
Dirk's class is only highlighted because of the bull antics of Cuban, Howard, and Terry.
what a bunch of clowns.
Dirk did say he prefers to keep his mind focused on basketball while that personal is still fresh...for an escape or respite or whatever.... Based on tonight's performance he really wants a LONGER post-season.
His teammates need to pick up the slack and help him out.
CP3 has an All-Star next to him, Dirk doesn't.
Dirk has always been a classy guy. Can't say that for anyone else associated with the Mavs.
Yeah, Dirk calmly walked off the court. .......Were there any exercise bikes around?
Dirk only left the court that quickly because he was scheduled for a deposition.
Dirk: 'This is as tough a loss as I've been a part of'
Tim MacMahon
Dallas Morning News
After three days of highly publicized personal drama, Dirk delivered an epic performance. But Dirk and the Mavs didn't finish the job in Game 3 against Denver.
That made the one-point loss awfully difficult to swallow.
"I think this is about as tough of a loss as I've been a part of in my 11 years in the league," Dirk said.
That's probably heat-of-the-moment hyperbole. After all, three of the Mavs' losses in the '06 Finals were last-minute gut-punchers. But the broken-hearted big German can be excused for a little exaggeration.
Dirk's 33 points and 16 rebounds weren't enough to keep the Nuggets from taking a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead. He just couldn't get a shot to drop down the stretch, missing his final five shots, including an off-balance 30-foot prayer at the buzzer. That, combined with some missed free throws and a controversial no-call before Carmelo Anthony's game-winner, probably sealed the Mavs' fate in this series.
Dirk, as stand-up a superstar as you'll ever see, doesn't want anybody to think the bizarre tale of his multi-aliased alleged fiancee landing in jail had any impact whatsoever on this game. There was no questioning his focus as he carried the Mavs on his back for three quarters.
"It was a tough week for me and my family, but I stuck with it," Dirk said. "If you go through tough times in your life, basketball is always an (escape). It's what we love to do, and I felt good out there. I tried to be aggressive early, made a couple of shots and had a good rhythm until the end of the game."
That left Dirk devastated, adding to the pain of what might be the worst week of his life.
33 and 16...great game, tough loss
I feel bad a guy lile Dirk is playing with so many morons
The Mavs don't deserve him
And that's the only thing Paul's team has it over Dirk's.
Gained some respect for Dirk-a-Dirk today...dude was VERY classy.
Didn't Jason Terry already say Kidd was gone after this season? I'm pretty sure he said that after we eliminated the Spurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs.
Dirk looked very depressed. Hope he is ok.
Dirk just come to LAL next season for the MLE and get a ring with us.
Stop wasting your career and life away in DAL.
Dirk is cool. I like him 'cause he is not y at all, unlike 99% of the players now in the NBA. I'm so sick and tired of seeing guys with their "I'm the " faces everytime they make a ing basket. That's also why I like the Spurs so much, there's not a single player in the Spurs that does that (Well maybe Parker and Mason, but they don't do it very often).
Quick, someone out an exercise bike joke before someone else thinks of it!
f##k cuban for wasting the end of dirk's prime, i hope he'll become a spurs in 2010.
Cuban needs to be punched as well
http://20secondtimeout.blogspot.com/...ter-blown.html
The Mavericks will be out of the playoffs soon, so now is as good a time as any to address some of the recent criticism of Nowitzki. TNT's studio crew--Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Chris Webber--has been just killing Nowitzki, mainly because of some of Nowitzki's comments during a recent interview. In response to a question about Denver's defense, Nowitzki listed the various positive attributes of several individual Denver defenders. The TNT analysts insist that Nowitzki gave Denver's players far too much credit and that, as a great player, he should simply say that the Nuggets play hard but no one can really stop him. While I do agree with Smith's observation that Kobe Bryant would not be so deferential toward an opponent, I think that overall the TNT guys are missing the forest for the trees here. Nowitzki's comments might be an issue if in fact the Nuggets were shutting him down but he is averaging 32 ppg and 11.7 rpg while shooting .525 from the field in this series. Nowitzki's reaction to their criticism is that he is a humble person who is willing to give credit to his opponents when they play well. One of the interesting dynamics about the American media is that athletes are encouraged to speak with candor but then they are raked over the coals for expressing honest, well thought out sentiments; no wonder so many athletes either choose to speak nothing but cliches and/or do their best to avoid being interviewed at all. I would be interested to hear exactly what question Nowitzki was asked before he delivered his much criticized sound bite, because I suspect that he did not simply start praising certain Nuggets players for no reason; he was probably asked to describe specifically how Denver is guarding him and he chose to answer honestly and analytically instead of boastfully or with empty cliches.
In some circles, Nowitzki is derided as a "soft" player but there is very little objective evidence to support that. Yes, his Mavericks squandered a 2-0 lead in the 2006 Finals versus the Miami Heat, but guarding 2006 Finals MVP Dwyane Wade was not his assignment. Nowitzki averaged 22.8 ppg and 10.8 rpg in that series; he shot just .390 from the field but teams tend to focus on stopping superstars in the playoffs: to cite just two recent examples, 2008 Finals MVP Paul Pierce shot .432 from the field in the Finals and 2005 Finals MVP Tim Duncan averaged 20.6 ppg while shooting .419 from the field. Nowitzki's "sin" is that his team lost but he could not singlehandedly change that outcome. In 2007, Nowitzki won the regular season MVP after leading the Mavericks to a 67-15 record but he ended up receiving that award in a very anticlimactic ceremony that took place after his Mavericks were upset in the first round by the Golden State Warriors. Nowitzki did not distinguish himself in that series but the real problem for the Mavericks is that they psyched themselves out before the series even began, changing their starting lineup and electing to play a slow down game that actually worked in Golden State's favor: they were able to harass Nowitzki and get stops, after which they still played at their normal fast pace. The Mavericks would have been much better served to also play at a fast pace, providing Nowitzki the opportunity to get open shots in transition instead of having to deal with swarming defenders in the half court set. Nowitzki's selection as the MVP received a lot of criticism in the wake of the Golden State series but I maintained at that time that those negative comments were unwarranted; although I would have chosen Kobe Bryant as the MVP that year, if the criteria being used was to select the best player on the best regular season team then Nowitzki earned the award--and one subpar playoff series did not alter the fact that he has put together a great career playoff resume. Nowitzki's career playoff scoring average of 25.1 ppg ranks 14th in NBA history, ahead of such notables as Rick Barry, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan--not to mention Charles Barkley (24th, 23.0 ppg) and Chris Webber (62nd, 18.7 ppg); Nowitzki's career playoff rebounding average of 11.0 rpg ranks 23rd in NBA history, better than Karl Malone, David Robinson, Abdul-Jabbar, Patrick Ewing, Willis Reed, Bird--and Webber (53rd, 8.7 rpg). For the record, Barkley ranks ninth all-time with a 12.9 rpg average but Nowitzki is one of just five players in NBA history (Bob Pet , Elgin Baylor, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O'Neal are the others) to post career playoff averages of better than 25 ppg and 11 rpg.
Nowitzki has not just put up empty numbers, either; he has had many clutch playoff performances:
* Nowitzki had four straight playoff games with at least 30 points and 15 rebounds, spanning a game five loss to Duncan's Spurs in 2001 and Dallas' three game first round sweep of Kevin Garnett's Minnesota Timberwolves in 2002; the last player to accompish that was Abdul-Jabbar in 1977 with the Lakers and 1970 with the Bucks.
* Nowitzki's 42 defensive rebounds in the 2002 Minnesota series were the second most in a three game playoff span since 1973-74, when the NBA began separately tracking offensive and defensive rebounds (Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo set the record in 1976 with 43 defensive rebounds).
* Nowitzki had 25 points and 20 rebounds in a 141-137 game three victory over the Sacramento Kings on May 10, 2003, becoming just the fourth player under the age of 25 to have a 20-20 playoff game since 1991 (Shaquille O'Neal did this twice, Shawn Kemp and Jermaine O'Neal did it once each).
* In 2003, Nowitzki had at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in back to back game sevens, joining Olajuwon, Kevin McHale, Bird, Elvin Hayes, Wilt Chamberlain and Pet as the only players to accomplish that feat. Webber should well remember the second of Nowitzki's 30-10 games, a 30 point, 19 rebound outing against Webber's Kings (Webber did not play due to injury).
* In 2006, Nowitzki had 50 points and 12 rebounds in a playoff win versus Phoenix, becoming just the fifth player since 1970 to put up 50-10 in a playoff game.
Note that in his big playoff games Nowitzki not only scored a lot but he also grabbed double digit rebounds; soft players do not repeatedly have those kinds of multidimensional performances.
I hate the fact that Dirk has taken it to the basket in the fourth quarter of a close Playoff game ONE TIME IN HIS CAREER and it's the play that robbed us of the 2006 Championship.
Dirk and Kidd back next season, everyone else is gone
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