Dallas Mavericks: In Playoff Fight, Mavericks Rallying Behind Dirk

For the last 18 years, the dunking Dutchman has led the Dallas Mavericks from the front, lifting the Mavericks through tough games and taking the fall when his lifting just wasn’t enough.

As the Mavericks head into the final games of the season with a playoff seed hanging in the balance, the Mavericks are once again rallying around their leader.

Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t selected as an NBA All-Star this season. Despite putting up outstanding numbers for a 37-year-old, Nowitzki spent the all-star break at the beach, relaxing with his family and letting his body rest.

While the NBA has been wrapped up in the farewell tour of Kobe Bryant, also 37 years old, Nowitzki continues to play and work and grind, besting players that are sometimes 15-16 years younger than him. With the spotlight on Bryant and his failing body, Nowitzki just wants to make playoffs.

“We’re all grinding for Dirk. We want to be a winning team, we want to be a playoff team, and we want to do it for Dirk.” – Rick Carlisle

As a sub-.500 team, the Mavericks are having one of their worst years of late. Throughout most of the season, Dallas has failed to develop any real identity and with Chandler Parsons out for the season, what little progress the Mavericks have made, stopped entirely with his injury.

Justin Anderson told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, “It sounds kind of goofy to say, I guess, but he’s one of the main reasons I really want to play hard. With all that he’s done for this organization, you don’t want to go out there and not play hard and not play up to his standards. It’s just a relationship that I’m fortunate enough to be a part of.”

With the exception of 2006 and 2011, the Mavericks have been consistently mediocre. Nowitzki has remained consistent, but the Dallas front office has failed to provide him with a supporting cast to complement him. The Mavericks, afraid of gambling on the draft, chose to gamble on free agency and lost out more than once.

Tim Cowlishaw, a columnist for the Dallas Morning News, has been covering the Mavericks for a while. According to him, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is to blame for the failing cast that currently surrounds Nowitzki. And while it’s easy to place the blame on someone, especially Cuban, burying the vocal owner underneath all of the responsibility would mean turning a blind eye to the truth.

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Yes, it’s true, the Mavericks decision making in the last few years has been questionable, including throwing away Jae Crowder for a difficult and hard to coach player like Rajon Rondo, but no one could have predicted that DeAndre Jordan would jump ship after a verbal commitment, a decision that screwed the Mavs out of two centers, Jordan and Tyson Chandler. Additionally, no one could have predicted that Chandler Parsons would get hurt in back to back seasons.

Maybe the owner is at fault, or maybe the Mavericks just have had really really bad luck. Either way, blaming Cuban for everything requires a certain amount of ignorance. The fans of the Dallas Mavericks and the people of Dallas will forever be indebted to Dirk Nowitzki. In a sports climate that idolizes entertainment and money, Nowitzki has been the face of exactly the opposite – humility and loyalty.

In different ways, both Nowitzki and Cuban have done their part in turning the trend of Dallas Mavericks basketball and as Nowitzki’s career comes to a close, it is important to be appreciative for the part that both of them played in doing so.