"Wow. I'm a little overwhelmed, as you would
think," Nowitzki told the sellout crowd after the Mavericks'
120-109 victory over the Phoenix Suns. "As you guys might
expect, this is my last home game."
Nowitzki made his much-anticipated retirement announcement after
delivering a season-high 30-point performance, with five
3-pointers, against the Suns. The 7-footer scored 10 points in
the opening seven minutes and had 19 points on a season-high 18
shot attempts in the first half.
The 14-time All-Star and sixth-leading scorer in NBA history
(31,540 points) finished the game with eight rebounds, three
assists and a block in a season-high 33 minutes.
The 40-year-old Nowitzki, whose playing career will officially
end Wednesday night when the Mavs play the San Antonio Spurs,
was honored by the appearance of five of his childhood heroes --
Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, Shawn Kemp and
fellow German Detlef Schrempf -- for a postgame ceremony that
included heartfelt speeches by Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle and
owner Mark Cuban.
"Amazing that my heroes came out here for this game," Nowitzki
said. "Thank you guys so much. Love you guys. Grew up watching
you and idolizing you guys so this means more than you will ever
know.
"Mark, can't wait to see what you've got for my jersey
retirement. I mean, this is a high bar that you set. But as you
guys might expect, this is my last home game."
Nowitzki's final season didn't actually begin until mid-December
thanks to a longer-than-expected recovery from ankle surgery.
From there, he mostly came off the bench for the first time in
his career and averaged 6.6 points in fewer than 15 minutes a
game.
But on this special night, Nowitzki turned back the clock, and
so did the crowd as it chanted M-V-P! M-V-P! Nowitzki won the
league's regular-season MVP award in 2007 and earned NBA Finals
MVP in 2011, when he delivered Dallas its lone championship.
--Field Level Media
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