Basketball Sports News:Dirk Nowitzki throws down 40
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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.
Has Dirk Nowitzki started an early bid for MVP with an incredible fourth quarter of 29 points against the Utah Jazz? Dirk had 40 total points on a night when for 3 quarters he just could not get it going and it looked like a boring defeat at the hands of the Jazz, but then the magic scoring hands of Nowitzki went to work and broke Mark Aguirre’s 1 quarter Maverick scoring record.
NBA factoid: Last December Carmelo Anthony had 33 in a single quarter to tie George Gervin’s all time NBA record.
Mark Aguirre had 27 on March 24th 1984.
Dirk had Jason Terry just gushing.
He scored 23 of 25 Maverick points in one stretch, including a step-back jumper with 2:05 to go that put them ahead, 85-83.
“It was tremendous,” Jason Terry said of Nowitzki’s fourth quarter. “Dirk put us on his back and showed us why he’s the MVP. We were in it defensively all night long. But offensively we struggled. It was getting to us. … But we didn’t let our defensive effort lack. I think that’s what kept us in the game.
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Dirk Nowitzki with classic shooting form
Dirk Nowitzki has 29 in the fourth
For the Dallas Mavericks the true test will come at the defensive end as a team loaded with offensive stars attempts to stop the opposing team from scoring, which is something they have not shown a strong propensity to accomplish in the past.
What’s more significant to me is that the Mavs have won three consecutive games despite not shooting better than 41.7 percent in any game this season. Last year, when they shot 42.5 percent of worse from the floor, they were 3-25. In many ways, just like the Rangers, this offense has traditionally been so good that if it gets even a touch of defense, it wins. Since that rather rough season opener, the Mavs have won as much because of defense as anything.
That is most definitely a change in this team. Maybe it’s only a one-week aberration, but, at least for a week, you have to figure the attention to defense is paying off for this team.
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If the Defensive Trend continues for the Dallas Mavericks then you can look for an extended playoff run at the end of the year.
Tags:dallas mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, NBA Basketball, NBA Playoffs, scoring-record