In honor of Dirk Nowitzki becoming the sixth member of the 30,000-point club, here are some of the German big man's most memorable moments, as recalled to theScore by some of his teammates, opponents, and coaches.
2006 playoff run
Nowitzki averaged 27 points and 11.7 rebounds during a 2006 postseason run that saw the Mavs get to the NBA Finals, where they would eventually fall to Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal's Miami Heat.
Two moments, in particular, stand out from Dirk's 2006 postseason.
And-1 vs. Spurs
After blowing a 20-point lead against the top-seeded Spurs in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, Dirk converted an overtime-forcing and-1 with 21.6 seconds left in regulation, silencing the AT&T Center.
Devin Harris (Teammate): "In San Antonio. On Ginobili. We had been winning the whole game, up big. They end up roaring back and he hit the bucket that sent it to overtime to keep the season alive."
50 for Tim Thomas and the Suns
In one of his finest playoff performances, Nowitzki dropped 50 points on a trash-talking Tim Thomas and the Phoenix Suns.
"If I could say the word (I called him), I would, but there's a lot of females around here. You get it?" Thomas said at the time. Dirk would get the last word, as he capped his 50-point masterpiece with a personal 15-5 run over a four-minute span in the fourth quarter that broke the game open and gave Dallas a 3-2 series lead in the West Finals. There's only been one 50-point playoff performance since (Ray Allen, 2009).
Harris: "I remember him directing some things at Tim Thomas during that game. Tim was doing all this (blows kiss), and I remember Dirk giving him the (waves hand in front of his face)."
2007 heartbreak
Nowitzki averaged 24.6 points while becoming the fourth player ever to post a 50-40-90 shooting season (Durant and Curry have since joined the club) during his MVP season in 2006-07, leading the Mavs to a league-best 67 wins.
Unfortunately, Dallas fell to the eighth-seeded Warriors in the first round of the playoffs, as Dirk struggled through the worst shooting playoff performance of his career. In a famous bout of frustration after the Game 6 clincher at Oracle Arena, the newly crowned MVP put a hole in the wall outside the visitors' locker room. There's been some confusion as to whether Nowitzki used a chair or trash can to do the damage.
Harris: "He threw a chair. I witnessed it. We all were disappointed, obviously. Having the season that we had, Dirk having the season that he had, losing to a team that we obviously felt we were better than. It just showed how disappointed he was, and how I think we all were. We were just coming off losing in The Finals. We felt like we could redeem ourselves, had the best record in the league, and to lose in that fashion was disappointing. He's a guy that's very ... keeps it all (inside). For him to show that type of emotion shows how pissed off he really was. We all felt it."
J.J. Barea (teammate): "Oh, he was destroyed. He was the MVP of the season, but he couldn't celebrate, because of that series. He was completely destroyed. It was tough, no question. It was really frustrating. We had an amazing season and we just couldn't match up against (the Warriors)."
2011 - A champion, at last
After 13 seasons of triumphs and heartbreak, the future Hall of Famer put together his most memorable two months of basketball in the spring of 2011, leading Dallas past Portland, the defending-champion Lakers, the up-and-coming Thunder, and The Big Three Heat en route to the franchise's first championship.
Nowitzki, who took home Finals MVP honors, averaged roughly 28 points and eight rebounds on 49-46-94 shooting throughout the 2011 postseason.
Wesley Matthews (former Blazer, current teammate): "They eliminated us (Portland), and I just remember kind of being in awe. I was surprised that they made it that far, surprised that they were beating the teams that they were beating, and how they were beating them. You look at OKC, how athletic and talented they were, and then you come to the super team in Miami. On paper, there's no way they win that championship, but he took that series over."
Barea: "Incredible. He was on another level. He wanted it more than everyone else. It was great to be a part of and help him accomplish it. Seeing him do it was pretty awesome."
48 on 15
In what was easily Dirk's most impressive individual performance of the postseason, the 32-year-old scored 48 points on 12-of-15 shooting - going 24-for-24 from the free-throw line - in Game 1 of the West Finals against the Thunder.
Dwane Casey (Raptors head coach/former Mavs assistant): "Dirk couldn't miss. He was in a groove. He was in a rhythm making tough shots. They were draped all over him, trying to get to his jumper, but they just couldn't. He was just in such a groove that whole playoff run - a 'you're not gonna stop me'-type rhythm, and he carried us on to a championship."
Serge Ibaka (member of 2011 Thunder): "What I remember was him having one of the best moments of his career. A player like him is a legend. I've got a lot of respect for him. A player like him, when he's at his best, you can't really do nothing. At that moment, he had pieces around him, where we couldn't leave them to help (on Dirk). I learned a lot from that. I remember after that year, I really learned a lot, just playing against him. He's one of the best players I've ever defended, and defending him in that playoffs made me a better defender."
The Finals
Among Nowitzki's Finals heroics, he engineered a personal 9-3 run over the final 2:44 of Game 2 in Miami - which included a game-winner with three seconds remaining that evened the series at 1-1 - then overcame a 104 fever to stick the Game 4 dagger in the Heat.
Barea: "He hit a couple (big shots) and then he had the layup. That was a comeback, too, Miami had a big lead." (The Heat were up 15 with 6:29 remaining)."
Casey: "I remember the night in the championship round that (Dwyane) Wade and (LeBron) James questioned whether he was really sick. He came out and gave them 25, or whatever it was (21), with a 104 fever. That's toughness. A lot of guys would've mailed it in or said 'I can't go.' He was going to prove to those guys - and he was legitimately sick that night - he came out and had a helluva game and got us back in the series, and we went on to win the championship."
The 30,000 club
Dirk Nowitzki: "It's been great support from everywhere, whether it's been on Twittter, or Kobe, or Magic, LeBron, Wade, it's been great. It's been humbling. I'm blessed. But also, to me, it's over now. We're trying to fight for the playoffs. We've got to get it together if we want to have a chance. Everything else will be unbelievable after my career - something I look back at with pride. For now, keep plugging."
Harrison Barnes (teammate): "As a player, you think about how hard it is and how consistent you have to be to score 20-plus for a season. Then do that for 10-plus years, over the hump of 30, still putting in work. It's tough. You see a lot of guys when they hit 30, 31, kind of on the downhill. Dirk won his championship at 32, still in his prime. He's 39 now, still out there averaging double digits. As a player, from our perspective, it's just how impressive it was to go out there, night in and night out, and be the best player on the court for that many years.
"We went to dinner after the game and had a surprise dinner for him the next night. Six people in the history of this game have done that. For him to do it with the same team, same franchise, is special. You have to take a moment to look at the bigger picture, because sometimes you get so caught up in the moment, and then you'll look back and say, 'that was a great moment I should have celebrated and acknowledged.' I think we did a good job of that."
Rick Carlisle (Mavericks head coach): "He's so consistent with everything. With a guy like him, who's so committed to a process, you're not going to get this single event. It's just not how it works. He does the little things every single moment that he is in the arena, and he's so consistent with it that it progresses - the level of greatness. It allows him to play at a high level even at the age of 38-and-a-half."
Harris: "No matter who's on the floor for him, he continues to show the same kind of resolve and leadership. There's not many people like that."
