finally a story giving Dirk his due:
link
but it does have a weird last paragraph...
Time to put Dirk in Pantheon
By Bill Simmons
Page 2
Question No. 1: What has been the unsung story of the playoffs?
Dirk Nowitzki. Although that could change after his torching of Phoenix on Thursday night -- 50 points, 12 rebounds and one of the all-time "we're not gonna lose this game" explosions (scoring 24 of 34 Dallas points in one stretch to put the game away). I know Nash won the MVP, LeBron and Wade have more upside, Duncan is the best all-around player, Kobe is the most explosive ... but if you could count on one franchise guy in a playoff series this spring, would you pick anyone other than the world's most famous Hasselhoff fan?
It's been refreshing to watch a great player refine his game and make the necessary fundamental/philosophical changes to become a dominant force -- like realizing that it's not OK to bitch out teammates on national TV, or finding a consistent way to punish smaller defenders on isolation plays. Even before Thursday, I thought Dirk took a Bob Beamon-level leap from "Franchise Guy" to "Potential Pantheon Guy" over the past six weeks, capped off by his incredible seven-game stretch from Game 3 of the Spurs series through Game 3 of the Suns series where he averaged 29 points and 15 rebounds a game and made the single biggest play of the playoffs: the three-point play in Game 7 against the Spurs.
Considering the circumstances, didn't that play rank with Magic's sky hook against the '87 Celtics, Bird's steal-and-pass against the '87 Pistons, MJ's basket-steal-basket sequence to end the '98 Finals, Jerry West's half-court bomb to save Game 2 of the '70 Finals and every other I-need-to-come-up-big-RIGHT-NOW clutch play in NBA history? Think about the context: Dallas was 20 seconds away from blowing a 3-games-to-1 lead, trailing by three with 20 seconds left, reeling from a blown 20-point lead and a gut-wrenching, go-ahead bomb from Ginobili, and they were playing on the road to boot. So they call the play for Nowitzki, who would have settled for a fallaway jumper as recently as last spring. Not this year. He takes Bruce Bowen into the paint with that herky-jerky, back-you-down move he developed over the summer, sneaks by him, gets to the rim, absorbs the contact from Ginobili, finishes the shot, draws the foul AND buries the free throw.
Ask yourself this one: How many superstars have singlehandedly altered the course of the playoffs with one play?
One more: Is there anyone who can guard Nowitzki right now? Opponents don't bother sticking the taller Duncan/Garnett types on him (Dirk beats them off the dribble whenever he wants). The Bowen/Bell types don't have a chance because of his creative post-guys-up-at-the-foul-line game, which has become unstoppable now that he mastered his fallaway turnaround. So who's left? Lanky forwards like Shawn Marion or Tim Thomas would seem to have the best chance -- they haven't come close to stopping Nowitzki but at least made him work for his points -- but even when Dirk's shot isn't falling, he's adopted the Larry Bird trick of crashing the offensive boards and making up those points on putbacks and foul shots. And we haven't even mentioned his 3-point shooting yet. I just don't think there's any way to fully shut him down.
Which brings me to my point: Dirk is playing at a higher level than any forward since Bird. Everyone else from the past 25 years was flawed in some way. Garnett and Malone had trouble taking over games. Barkley was better suited as a second banana; teams could handle him in the final minutes because of his shaky shot selection. Duncan is the best all-around power forward ever, but his poor free-throw shooting makes him a dicey option down the stretch. (Just look at what happened at the end of regulation in Game 7: the Spurs ran the final play for Ginobili.) But Nowitzki doesn't have any holes -- he scores against anyone, makes his free throws, grabs big rebounds in traffic, protects the rim, even doles out the right amount of sneers and chest bumps. He's been a killer all spring, a true assassin, and I certainly never imagined writing that about Dirk Nowitzki.
One more note on this: we get carried away with basketball statistics nowadays, as evidenced by the new book that rated Allen Iverson as the 90th best player in the league during his MVP season. Why make it so complicated? Just add up the point, rebound and assist averages for franchise guys during the playoffs: If the number tops 42, you're probably talking about a pantheon guy. You could even call it the 42 Club, just as exclusive as the Five-Timer Club on SNL, only without the NBA equivalent of Elliott Gould.
Since it's my idea, I only allowed guys who played 13 or more playoff games in one postseason to be eligible, since that's a legitimate sampling (more than a month of basketball at the highest level). Here's what the 42 Club looks like since the ABA/NBA merger in 1976:
Michael Jordan (six times) -- 49.4 ('89); 50.7 ('90); 45.9 ('91); 46.5 ('92); 47.8 ('93); 43.8 ('97)
Shaquille O'Neal (four times) -- 43.6 ('98); 49.2 ('00); 49.0 ('01); 43.9 ('02)
Larry Bird (four times) -- 42.0 ('81); 44.4 ('84); 43.4 ('86); 44.2 ('87)
Moses Malone (twice) -- 43.0 ('81), 43.3 ('83)
Magic Johnson (twice) -- 43.8 ('86), 42.5 ('91)
Karl Malone (twice) -- 43.0 ('92), 42.9 ('94)
Hakeem Olajuwon (twice) -- 44.2 ('94), 47.8 ('95)
Tim Duncan (twice) -- 42.7 ('01), 45.4 ('03)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar -- 47.1 ('80)
Charles Barkley -- 44.5 ('93)
Kobe Bryant -- 42.8 ('01)
Allen Iverson -- 43.7 ('01)
Kevin Garnett -- 44.0 ('04)
LeBron James -- 44.7 ('06)
Dirk Nowitzki -- 45.1 ('06, ongoing)
Here's why I love the 42 Club: There isn't a single fraud on that list, with the possible exception of the Mailman (that's a whole other column). Every memorable spring from the past three decades is represented except for three: Bill Walton in '77 (didn't score enough); Bernard King in '84 (played only 12 games); and Magic in '87 and '88 (he just missed). Just like in real life, the best seasons of Patrick Ewing, David Robinson and Clyde Drexler fell short. Those career year/MVP seasons for KG, Barkley and Iverson all qualified, as did Kobe's ridiculous 2001 season (when he peaked as an all-around player). MJ leads the list with six appearances, which seems logical because he was the most dominant player of that era. And LeBron cracked the list at age 21, which was fitting because we'll be electing him lifetime president of the 42 Club within the next 12 years.
Did I ever believe that Nowitzki would crack the 42 Club? No way. Just two summers ago, I skewered the Mavs for refusing to part with him in a Shaq trade; by my logic, they were passing up two or three guaranteed championships to keep someone who wasn't quite a franchise player. Well, I was wrong. (Although not completely wrong -- would you rather have Nash and Shaq or Nowitzki and Dampier?) Regardless, he's the most unstoppable player in basketball, a true franchise guy, and I think he's headed for his first championship in about two weeks.
(The only catch: Does it scare anyone else that the NBA's alpha dog could end up being a German guy? Remember, this is the same country that started two World Wars last century and deliberately crippled Pele in "Victory." We need to be careful here -- we don't want to give them their confidence back. I'm willing to accept Dirk's reign, but only if he accepts the championship trophy by re-enacting Rocky Balboa's speech from Christmas Day, 1986 -- "If I can change, and you can change, EVERY VUN can change!" -- as a sobbing Mark Cuban hugs David Stern in the background.)