Dirk Nowitzki Climbs Another Rung On NBA All-Time Scoring Ladder

(SB Nation Dallas, Jonathan Tjarks) Dirk Nowitzki continued his climb up the NBA's record chart Monday night, when he passed Robert Parrish, a former Boston Celtics center, on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

Dirk, who passed Parrish with a mid-range jumper in the first quarter of Dallas' 89-73 victory over Boston, is now No. 20 on the all-time list with 23,335 points.

By the end of the year, Dirk will likely have passed two of the greatest PF's of all-time -- Kevin Garnett (No. 19), who is only 350 points ahead of Nowitzki and averages 8 fewer points a game and Charles Barkley (No. 18), who finished his career with 23, 757 points.

And while many of his contemporaries, like Garnett and Tim Duncan, whom he also passed this year, have begun to slow down, Dirk's game is built around two factors -- height and shooting ability -- unaffected by age.

He also reached another milestone against Boston when he blocked his 1,000th career shot, joining Cliff Robinson as Rasheed Wallace as one of three players in NBA history to reach four-figures in blocks and three-pointers made.