Breaking Down Dirk Nowitzki’s Impressive Start to the Season
By Jay Knodell
Dirk Nowitzki has carried the Mavericks to a 13-9 start through 22 games. Let’s take a look at how he’s done it.
Dirk Nowitzki has been forced to carry the load offensively for the Dallas Mavericks a little more than planned as Wesley Matthews plays himself back into form and Chandler Parsons works to become more of a consistent presence in the lineup, but hey, it’s hard to argue with the results.
Let’s take a look at how Nowitzki has gotten his team-high 17.9 points per game.
Efficiently
“Dirk” is still circled in caps at the top of every opposing pre-game whiteboard, and we’ve seen coaches send double-teams at him frequently over the first quarter or so of the season.
But still, even at 37-years old, Nowitzki is thriving as the go-to guy for the Mavericks. He’s putting up a team-high 13.2 attempts from the field a game as the center of attention, but is just a missed free throw away from posting a 50-40-90 first quarter of the season. That’s impressive.
Nowitzki did average almost 19 points a game over the first quarter of last season, too, but it’s important to note that his averages from deep and the field overall were substantially lower.
Deron Williams is drawing far more attention from the defense than Jameer Nelson (and eventually Rajon Rondo) did, and the floor stretching presence of Wesley Matthews has worked wonders in creating space for Dirk to work because even when he isn’t knocking them down, defenders are cautious about leaving a guy who puts up almost six threes a game. And it’s easy to imagine steadier doses of Chandler Parsons aiding in the quality of Nowitzki’s looks as well, though more Parsons probably does mean fewer of them.
The point is that as good of looks as Nowitzki has been getting (46% of his attempts are classified by NBA.com as either open or wide-open) the Dallas offense has room to improve and those improvements should help Nowitzki more than anyone. He’s been incredibly efficient thus far, but might actually improve in that regard as Matthews and Parsons round into form.
Nov 28, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) celebrates making a three point shot. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Gutsily
Last season we saw Dirk fade into more of a decoy role in last-game situations with increasing deferral to Monta Ellis. But this season it’s been back to Dirk in crunch time. Anyone surprised he’s been delivering?
In the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime and the game within five points, Nowitzki is 5-9 from the field and 3-4 from long range. Against Portland, Dirk scored five points in the last 49 seconds of regulation, his tip-in with six seconds left tying the game and sending it in to overtime.
Nowitzki has been one of the game’s deadliest scorers in the clutch over his career, and that hasn’t changed now that he’s a little older. Rick Carlisle and the Mavericks have been able to get him the ball in areas where he is prone to succeed and Dirk has done the rest. Don’t expect that to change much even when the roster is at 100%.
Consistently
Nowitzki has scored in double-figures in all but one game this season, when he scored nine points against the Los Angeles Lakers. He’s also played on the second night of back-to-backs all but once. In those five games Nowitzki is averaging 22.6 points on 53% shooting.
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Nowitzki doesn’t get up and down the floor the way he once did, but the talk of him slowing down has been unwarranted. Even in the late stages of his illustrious career Nowitzki is capable of carrying his team. His first quarter of the season is prime example.
And read more on Dirk’s impact on the game here