3 things from Dirk Nowitzki’s final home game as Dallas beat Phoenix, 120-109

The Dallas Mavericks walloped the Phoenix Suns Tuesday night, 120-109. Dirk Nowitzki powered the Mavericks, perhaps for his final time, with 30 points. Jamal Crawford, fellow old man, poured in 51 for the Suns off the bench in defeat.

If I told you Dirk Nowitzki, in the year 2019, opened the game shooting eight straight times? Because that happened and it doesn’t make sense hours later. The legend scored 10 points on 9 shots in the opening frame as the Mavericks ran play after play for Dirk to open the game, until the no-fun Suns started sending double teams at the 40 year old forward. The over defending of Dirk opened things up for the rest of the team and Dallas piled on the Suns, taking a 33-18 lead after one frame.

The second quarter Nowitzki started in historical fashion, burying a corner three. Dirk missed a free throw elbow jumper and didn’t see the ball for a while. A free throw later in the frame settled Dirk and he got a post up on the block and a three pointer to go down. He followed that up with a few more misses, but the Dallas Mavericks took a 68-38 lead into the half.

Dallas kept the pressure up in the third quarter and Dirk scored eight more. The Suns slowly chipped away during the frame but Dallas still took a 19 point lead into the fourth quarter. From there, Jamal Crawford made it his mission to make the game interesting, scoring a billion points in the fourth to close the lead to as little as four before Luka Doncic closed the door late. Dallas walked away with a 120-109 victory.

Now, some stuff.

Dirk Nowitzki retires

Guys, I got to be honest. I wrote this while watching all the post game stuff. I was half way through the recap and then Dirk announced he was done playing professional basketball. I knew, you knew, we all knew somewhere in us that this was the end of it all. And yet it still hit me in the gut. We’ll have lots of coverage tonight and tomorrow and in the days ahead about what this means and how we feel. Right now, it’s time to celebrate and remember. 41.21.1.

The quietest triple double in history

Did you know Luka Doncic just posted another triple double? The broadcast mentioned it but on Dirk’s night it’s understandable that they didn’t harp on his 21 point, 16 rebound, 11 assist performance. He’s now in sole possession of third place on the rookie list for triple doubles. He’s good folks.

Dallas on fire from downtown

The story of this game will get lost in time, with Dirk retiring. Yet the Maverick three point shooting is the actual story of the game with the team lighting it up from beyond the arc hitting 16 of 40 shots. We don’t need to think about this now, but the three point shooting will tell the tale for Dallas as they head into next season.

See y’all tomorrow for the final game of the season