Because Don Nelson speaking German to Dirk Nowitzki is always funny.

1:21 pm - 14 Jun 2011 - 2 notes
- - -
Filed under: #basketball #Don Nelson #Dirk Nowitzki #Steve Nash

A list of players in the 2011 NBA Finals ordered by overall true talent. That is to say, this is not a list of who played best in these seven games, but rather an ordering of these players in the general NBA firmament. The exact order isn’t quite as important as the overall talent distribution.

1. LeBron James
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Dirk Nowitzki
4. Chris Bosh
5. Tyson Chandler
6. Jason Terry
7. Jason Kidd
8. Udonis Haslem
9. Shawn Marion
10. J.J. Barea
11. Mike Miller?
12. Joel Anthony?

Perhaps I’m overrating Tyson Chandler’s contributions, but the point is that the Heat had three of the four best players in the series, and then after that — at best — you’d have to go down to No. 8 to find their next-best player, an it could easily be argued that the Heat’s fourth-best was the series’ tenth-best player.

9:14 am - 13 Jun 2011 - 2 notes
- - -
Filed under: #basketball #Miami Heat #Dallas Mavericks #Dirk Nowitzki #LeBron James #Dwyane Wade #Chris Bosh

Every single player in this year’s NBA Finals is getting a raw deal, and it’s Michael Jordan’s fault.

From 1991 through 1998, Jordan’s teams lost one playoff series, and that was in 1995 to Shaquille O’Neal, Anfernee Hardaway, and the Orlando Magic, after Jordan returned from his baseball sojourn and had played in only 17 regular season games. In other words, it took a stacked team six games to beat a rusty Jordan and the Bulls. It is essential to Jordan’s legend that the only playoff series he lost* was to Shaq and Penny without the benefit of playing into form.

Continue reading this post...

4:59 pm - 8 Jun 2011 - 2 notes
- - -
Filed under: #basketball #Michael Jordan #LeBron James #Dirk Nowitzki #Dallas Mavericks #Hakeem Olajuwon #Tim Duncan #Miami Heat

LeBron James will never be the story that Michael Jordan was — not because he can’t be as good, or because he can’t win six titles, but because a layer of ignorance, and therefore wonder, continues to enshroud His Airness. Jordan’s myth was an unimpeachable brand, a coin-worthy sillouette soaring, not definitively towards anything, but floating God-like above an entire culture. What we didn’t know elevated him, what we know about James and indeed Nowitzki renders them utterly human.

— Beckley Mason, on NBA myths. I’ve tried to explain this others, but haven’t been nearly as eloquent.

3:31 pm - 31 May 2011 - 3 notes
- - -
Filed under: #basketball #Michael Jordan #Dirk Nowitzki #LeBron James

Dirk Nowitzki. Don Nelson. Steve Nash.

Middle school center-part! Nellie in a tie! Frosted tips!

Via SportsIllustrated.com

10:17 am - 31 May 2011 - 265 notes
- - -
Filed under: #basketball #Dirk Nowitzki #Steve Nash #Don Nelson #Dallas Mavericks

Dirk’s shambolic anti-athleticism is central to his offensive effectiveness: half his trips to the free-throw line seem to result from defenders who are used to high speed chases with Jaguars failing to account for the strange trajectories of this earthbound Volkswagen.

— Roth, making up for lost time with Dirk Nowitzki over at GQ.com. — bethlehemshoals

9:34 am - 6 May 2011 - 10 notes
- - -
Filed under: #basketball #Dirk Nowitzki