By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Dirk Nowitzki ended his storied NBA career with a double-double. He got emotional after the San Antonio Spurs’ tribute video and was serenaded with MVP chants by the sell-out AT&T Center crowd throughout the final match of his career. “Felt almost like a home game, honestly” he admitted.
Apart from the touching scenes, the 40-year-old German forward posted 20 points, 10 rebounds, one assist and one steal in 32 minutes. He wasn’t enough for the win, but made his final bucket with his signature one-legged fadeaway.
“It was fantastic again tonight. If it’s not at home, this kind of works perfect. This team was always sort of the big brother. They were beating us and then we kind of found a way to get through them in ’06. To me, probably still one of the best playoff series I’ve been a part of and probably some of the best basketball in that series that I’ve ever played in my life” Nowitzki mentioned after the contest.
“It’s been a long season here this year, tough one with my ankle, so I’m kind of glad it came to an end. But also bittersweet, of course. You know, they always say an athlete dies twice. It’s tough. It’s tough to let something go that you love so much, that you’ve been doing basically your entire life, something that you lived and breathed for basically over 20 years. So it’s going to be tough for a few months, maybe years, but I tried to enjoy the heck out of the 21 years” he added.
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