Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki is generally regarded as a great guy and has a sparkling reputation around the league. He is not known for dirty fouls, even though he has been hacked by opponents countless times. Having played in the '90s, Dirk knows his way around a hard foul. So when he was charged for a flagrant one on Monday night against the Lakers, he presented a hilarious counter-argument to referee Michael Smith, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Dirk is having his foul on Brandon Ingram being reviewed for a flagrant. He’s beside himself and tells the ref: “Michael, that’s not even a foul in ‘98!” Basically channeling Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 8, 2019
The German star is certainly right that the game is much less physical in today's era than when he was a rookie. Unfortunately for him, he is now playing in a much less lenient environment, and flagrant fouls are given out at the slightest sign of a particularly hard foul.
Even though Nowitzki is having a fairly unproductive season in what is expected to be his retirement campaign, it takes nothing away from his legacy.
He is widely considered to be the best international player in history, and his patented (and frequently imitated) one-legged fadeaway is known to be one of the hardest moves to guard, right next to Kareem Abdul Jabbar's hook shot.
The entire NBA community will be sad to see Nowitzki bid farewell to the game when his last games approach. Hopefully, the Mavericks can somehow sneak into the playoffs and give the all-time great the send-off he deserves.
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