Following a close defeat at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, L.A. Clippers head coach Doc Rivers had plenty of praise for star forward Dirk Nowitzki, who eclipsed the 30,000-point mark earlier this month.

“He's his own bird, is what I love about him,” Rivers told ESPN's Tim MacMahon. “There's not been a Dirk. Ever. There's been a lot of great players in our league, but the great, great players are the ones where you say well there's never been one of those. To me that's Dirk. I don't know, who would you say was a Dirk before Dirk? No one. Now, there's a lot of guys trying to be it and probably ruining their careers trying to do it.”

Nowitzki had yet another typical performance on Thursday, chipping in 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting, along with four rebounds, four assists, and two steals — not one to gloat about, but rather doing just enough to lead his team to a win.

The 7-footer has faded this season as the wear and tear of 18-plus seasons has started to show in the shape of nagging injuries and needed minute limitations throughout this 2016-17 campaign. But somehow, Nowitzki's presence hasn't faded, still the competitor, the perfectionist, the consummate professional working on his craft.

“Same thing happened with Magic,” added Rivers. “I thought Magic, in the middle of his career, there was a bunch of 7-footers trying to be guards, none of them made it. They wanted to be like Magic. And I think that's the same thing with Dirk. A lot of guys are – it's growing, the shooting with the bigs is all over the league, but Dirk is a rare bird.”

The German international is by far the leader in three-pointers made by big men, and even more so by a player 7-feet and up — racking up an impressive 1769 three-point makes at a 38.1 percent clip throughout the regular season.

Dirk Nowitzki is one of the few players left from the 90s era, and a special one at that. The 38-year-old international is expected to join the Hall of Fame among some of other superstars of the 90s like Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, who also played their entire careers with one franchise.