Dirk Nowitzki, fresh off of a 40-point outing against Portland, has been fantastic in the month of March.
Typically 37-year olds don’t gain steam as the regular season plays out, but Dirk Nowitzki is not your typical 37-year old.
Instead of the grueling trek towards postseason play wearing on what should be tired legs, Nowitzki has played some of his best basketball of the season in the month of March.
After his 40-point outing (16-26 FG) against the Portland Trail Blazers, Nowitzki upped his scoring average this month to 24.9 points on 53.4% shooting from the field.
That figure is good enough for 11th in the entire league since March 1st, behind guys like Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and DeMarcus Cousins, and ahead of others like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Kawhi Leonard.
Of the 10 players scoring more than the 37-year old Dirk over the last three weeks, Curry is the oldest at 28-years. And Nowitzki’s accuracy from the field ranks 5th in that span.
Dirk’s performance against Portland helped Dallas climb within a half game of the Blazers, with another matchup looming on Wednesday. The Mavericks will likely need all they can get from their scoring leader to finish out the season, as his teammates have continued to struggle with consistency.
Even with Dirk’s stellar play, the Mavericks are just 3-7 in the month of March.
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Dallas could still realistically climb as high as the 5th seed in the Western Conference, but could easily fall out of postseason play altogether.
The team is tied in the standings with the Houston Rockets at 35-35, but are just one game ahead of the ninth place Utah Jazz. Utah is 6-4 in their last 10.
It should be a wild finish to the regular season, but Mavericks fans have to feel good about their team’s chances of making the playoffs with a guy like Dirk Nowitzki on their team.