If you are a basketball fan, chances are, you like Dirk Nowitzki.

The Dallas Mavericks legend will be retiring at year's end, ans throughout the season, he has been getting consistent ovations from road crowds. Madison Square Garden is no different.

On Friday night during the Mavericks' game against the New York Knicks, the Knicks faithful stood to their feet when Nowitzki entered the game and loudly cheered for the future Hall-of-Famer:

Classy as always, Dirk acknowledged the crowd.

And how about the stat the Knicks color commentator Walt Frazier mentioned in the video? Over the course of his illustrious 21-year NBA career, Nowitzki ended up fourth in points against New York in spite of playing in a different conference.

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Think about that for a second. Dirk has played the Knicks just twice a year in the two decades he has been in the league, and yet, he has scored more points against New York than all but three other players.

Going into Wednesday night, Nowitzki had played in just 18 games this season, averaging a mere 3.7 points and 1.7 rebounds over 10 minutes per game while shooting just 31.1 percent from the floor and 28.6 percent from three-point range.

While it's sad seeing Nowitzki as not even a shell of his former self, we have to keep in mind that he is now 40 years old and has a ton of mileage under his belt. Couple that with the fact that he had ankle surgery back in April, and these results are not all that surprising.

Still, Nowitzki will get one last hurrah in All-Star Weekend, as he will participate in the Three-Point Shooting Contest.