I have questioned the heart of the Dallas Mavericks, and in particular that of Dirk Nowitizki, in this space before. While the Mavs still have a long way to go to the ultimate goal, and haven't won anything yet, I do need to give some props to the team and the dude.
Last night's Game 4 against the Spurs represented the second game in a row where San Antonio threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Mavs. Both teams are full-tilt and it's resulting in exceptionally entertaining basketball. There have been so many stand-out performances and big moments on both sides that trying to list them all would be useless. I'd wind up rehashing the entire series.
Instead, let's talk about Dirky Dirk for a moment. Let's face it, he's been a soft European player for his entire career up until now. Sure, he's got TREMENDOUS talent, has put up huge numbers, and has been generally a great regular season player. However, he's not been tough enough for NBA Playoff basketball.
He's still got to sustain it before I'm ready to send him to the Hall of Fame, but, man, has he gutted up this year. He dominated Memphis, doing everything you could ask of a superstar and team leader. And he's taken it up several levels against San Antonio. The Spurs D (Finley last night) is still all over him, and it's not totally without effect, but Dirk has fought through it more often than not. He's making strong moves, grabbing the toughest of tough rebounds, passing, getting to the free-throw line, running the court, in short, everything. His badly rolled ankle seemed to be paining him - he was limping pretty badly during time outs - but he fought through that as well.
This is the sort of performance that separates the great regular season guys from the Hall of Famers.
The departures of Nash and Finley, though painful in both cases, have served to make the Mavericks better in many ways. The money saved on those guys has been turned into Jason Terry and Erick Dampier (and Diop and probably a couple of others). The holes left in the lineup have provided increased opportunities for Devin Harris and Marquis Daniels. All good, all paying off now.
However, I think the biggest plus of Nash and Finley moving on is the unquestioned role of Dirk as this team's go-to guy. There's no doubt who is The Man now. The really great news is that Dirk has embraced this role, and is adding to his legitimacy in it every game.
BTW, I predicted a split in Dallas and a tied series at this point. I'm really happy to be wrong. Can the Mavs close it out on Wed? Don't bet against it.
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