Dallas Mavericks: Happy Birthday Dirk Nowitzki

8. Game 5 2006 Western Conference Finals

Shortly after Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the 2nd round of the 2006 playoffs, they met up with a Steve Nash led Phoenix Suns squad in the WCF. This was finally looking like the Mavericks year but they needed to fight off a tough Suns team.

With the series tied 2-2, Dallas needed a big win at home to make sure they weren’t facing elimination in Phoenix. Dirk took care of that no problem.

7. Dirk Traded to Mavs

This may not be at the top of the list but the rest of the list wouldn’t exist without it. In 1998, the Dallas Mavericks were coming off a bad year and held the rights to the number 6 pick overall in the draft. It was a decent draft and Dallas had a chance to do something really good for the franchise.

They did just that.

On draft day, the Mavs decided to part ways with the number 6 pick overall and trade with Milwaukee. The trade gave the Bucks Robert ‘Tractor’ Traylor while Dallas picked up the young German, Dirk Nowitzki, as well as another first rounder. Safe to say we won that trade.

6. Game 1 2011 Western Conference Finals

It took my all day to finally decide which game was more influential in the career of Dirk Nowitzki but in the end, I went with our next item on the list. As far as this game goes, Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals in 2011 against the Thunder may be the greatest individual performance by Dirk in a playoff game in his career.

It doesn’t really require me saying much to explain why either. Dirk score 48 points on 12-15 shooting and 24-24 from the free throw line. Simply breathtaking.

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