The Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs squared off on Wednesday night, the final game of their 2018-19 regular season schedule – as the latter makes their way to the playoffs while the former awaits the draft lottery results. The game also closes the book on the interstate rivalry of the early-00s as Dirk Nowitzki remained the lone vestige of those classic battles and is headed to ride off the sunset himself.
When the horn sounded, Nowitzki and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich met each other in the middle of the court to hug and exchange words for the final time. The 4o-year-old then turned his attention to the cheering crowd, acknowledging the AT&T Center fans' appreciation for the player that once tormented their team with clutch baskets and transition triples as much as wayward bats.
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Nowitzki finished the game with 21 points and 10 rebounds in 32 minutes of action, his 411th double-double, and also coming at the heels of his 30-point effort the previous night in which he became the oldest player to score that amount. Not too shabby of a final curtain for the German export.
When 2019-20 campaign begins, the Spurs will face off with a completely refashioned Mavs spearheaded by Slovenian rookie Luka Doncic and the much-awaited debut of their prized acquisition in Kristaps Porzingis. Dallas hopes that the duo would serve as their new “Nasty and Filthy” (Steve Nash and Nowitzki) in the post-Dirk era.
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