Nowitzki reaches 30,000 points, makes “love to pressure” in win over Lakers

DALLAS – These are the types of games Dirk Nowitzki relish. The types of games where he stares pressure dead between the eyes and then wins the stare-down hands down.

That’s what happened Tuesday night when Nowitzki tallied 25 points in dramatic fashion while steering the Dallas Mavericks to a 122-111 triumph over the hapless Los Angeles Lakers.

Nowitzki entered the game needing 20 points to reach the 30,000-point barrier for his career. The fans that piled inside American Airlines Center – 20,484 strong – seemingly could sense they were on the verge of witnessing history, on the verge of watching a moment in time they’ll always be locked in their memory bank.

The Mavs had even placed T-shirts on every seat earlier in the day with 30K and a picture of Nowitzki shooting his patented one-legged fallaway jumper. But the pressure to close the (30,000) deal against the Lakers didn’t phase Nowitzki one iota.

"On a night like tonight where there’s such anticipation, your crazy marketing people have these 30K shirts all over the seats this morning, and somebody said something to me about that – the pressure,’’ coach Rick Carlisle said. "And my response is simply this, that this is a guy that lives for these kinds of moments.

"I remember I was in the car with somebody that had him on the phone before he was getting ready to throw out the first pitch at a (Texas) Rangers’ World Series game, and he had him on the speaker and he said, ‘Hey, don’t let the pressure get to you tonight when you’re throwing out that first pitch.’ And Dirk had a one-sentence response: ‘I make love to pressure.’ Tonight is a prime example of that.’’

Nowitzki scored the Mavs ‘ first eight points of the game and was never deterred thereafter. The 19-year veteran kept nailing one mind-boggling jumper after another until he had reached 29,998 career points – Nowitzki notched 18 points in the first quarter – entering the second period.

Then it happened.

With Larry Nance Jr. draped over him in the right corner, Nowitzki took a pass from Devin Harris, did a jab-step and buried a memorable record-breaking 15-foot fadeaway jumper which gave him the keys to the NBA’s exclusive 30,000-point club.

After the first dead ball play, a timeout was called and Nowitzki was mobbed by his teammates and coaches, and the fans were yelling to the top of their lungs. Nowitzki referred to it as a "surreal’’ moment that he’ll never forget.

"It’s a lot of points, obviously,’’ Nowitzki said. "Every milestone makes you reflect a little bit.

"It makes you reflect on the people that have helped you and been with you all of this way. It makes you think of all the coaches, (owner Mark) Cuban, the players and the fans that went with me through thick and thin.’’

Nowitzki wound up scoring all 25 of his points in the first half. He also picked up 11 rebounds to register his second straight double-double and sixth of the season.

In all, Nowitzki was 9-of-13 from the field and 3-of-4 from 3-point territory. He was – in two words – on fire.

"I made the first one and it was a two, and then I made the first three and thought ‘why not,’’ Nowitzki said. "I threw another one up and it went in, and then the next three came right after that and I was just trying to ride it from there.

"I got a couple of free throws, which helped settle me down, and I just took it from there."

And when Nowitzki gets a chance to take over a game, not many can slow him down. That certainly was the case against the Lakers, who have lost their past eight games to drop to 19-45 on the season and were last seen in awe of the damage Nowitzki did to them.

Obviously once he saw that first one go in he was feeling it tonight,’’ Lakers coach Luke Walton said. "He looked like young Dirk where balls weren’t even touching the rim.

"He has 30K points for a reason. He is really good and whether you go small on him or big, he is a pretty tough matchup once he gets going."

Once Nowitzki got going, it was game, set and match, to borrow a tennis vernacular. The Lakers had no chance at putting up any type of resistance.

Going into the game, the competitor in Nowitzki was ready to put 30,000 points in his rearview mirror, although there were many who thought he would have to wait until Friday’s home game against Brooklyn to get there.

"If you’re a competitor, you love to compete at the highest level and the pressure comes with that,’’ Nowitzki said. "You’ve got to embrace that and battle through that.

"Today I felt good in warmups, shot the ball really well in warmups."

Nowitzki shot the ball really well in the game, too. And with that, he took his place alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to score at least 30,000 points in an NBA career.

"It’s going to take a while to sink in, what this really means,’’ Carlisle said. "The benchmark in baseball is 3,000 hits, and there are 30 guys with 3,000 hits in the history of baseball.

"There’s only six that have 30,000 points in the history of our game. The magnitude of this moment is something that we’ll all probably need some time to digest."

It didn’t take long for NBA commissioner Adam Silver to digest what Nowitzki was able to accomplish. He released a statement shortly after that game which read:

"Congratulations to Dirk Nowitzki on joining the NBA’s most exclusive 30,000-point club. Throughout his 19 seasons with the Mavericks, Dirk has been a model player and terrific ambassador for our game.

"This latest accomplishment further establishes his legacy as one of the NBA’s greatest players.’’

Kobe Bryant used his Twitter account to praise Nowitzki. Bryant tweeted: "Congrats @swish41 you are a true great. #fadelikedirk."

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James also used social media to send a congratulatory out to Nowitzki.

"I’m taking a break from dinner – I hope y’all don’t mind – I’m with the family,’’ James said. "But I got to congratulate Dirk Nowitzki on putting up 30,000 points.

‘I’m watching the game right now, the big fella, congratulations. Oh, that big 30,000. Whew! And he on fire, too – very efficient tonight."

James, who has 28,316 career points to 30,005 for Nowitzki, marveled at what the Mavs’ franchise player was able to achieve against the Lakers.

"There was no way I was missing this moment,’’ James said. "Congratulations. That’s big-time, man.

"Congratulations. Hopefully I can join you at some point big fella. Salute.’’

Lots of folks were saluting Nowitzki all night long.

"Today the mindset was kind of go for it, let it ride, and the play calls came my way early,’’ Nowitzki said. "Guys kept finding me in good spots and I just said ‘You’ve got to let it ride, you’ve got to go for it.’

"I was able to get hot a little early and that helped to get it out of the way. I didn’t really want to drag this on. Guys tried to feed me, and it was perfect that way."

A perfect ending to a perfect night for Nowitzki and the Mavs.

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 2:18 AM with the headline "Nowitzki reaches 30,000 points, makes “love to pressure” in win over Lakers."