Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk Werner Nowitzkiis a German professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. An alumnus of Röntgen Gymnasium and the DJK Würzburg basketball club, Nowitzki was chosen as the ninth pick in the 1998 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and immediately traded to the Mavericks, where he has played since. Listed at 7 ft 0 in, Nowitzki is considered one of the greatest power forwards in basketball history...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth19 June 1978
CountryGermany
I never looked at basketball as work. I always enjoyed it as my hobby. I loved it. Once that love is gone, and I'm tired of working out every day and doing all the stuff to get me ready for games, and I'm tired of lifting and conditioning and doing all that other stuff around it, and I'd rather stay in bed, then it's time to go.
I played all kinds of sports when I was young: tennis, handball, basketball, some soccer. I focused on basketball when I was 16 or 17 and then came to the U.S. when I was 20.
I wanted to avoid service, because I was on the road to becoming a professional basketball player.
Basketball gave me a lot, which is why I want to stay connected with this sport later on, maybe working with young people. But it would be more in the background. Being in the spotlight was never really my thing. I never wanted to be famous.
I thought basketball was a game for women. My mother played basketball, and so did my sister.
I always wanted to be a basketball player. Nothing more, nothing less.
I know, basketball is a dance. I didn't understand the significance of that type of training at first. I was supposed to read poems...
I take my sport damned seriously. Basketball is my life. There are other people who go into important games as if they were any other game. I'm a brooder and I spend a lot of time thinking about my opponent, about the things he can do and about what I have to do to win. I don't think I'll ever be able to change that.
It's going to be a big game, a fun game. That's about all it is. But there's a big difference in being the first seed and the fourth seed. All we can do is go for it. Even if we should lose, there's a lot of basketball to be played.
Winning 60 is a special season. Unfortunately, we've won 60 twice and been the fourth seed twice.
We will miss Adi a lot with rebounds,
We've been down before. We knew if we could find a way to make a little push, we'd have a chance. With the shooters we have, anything is possible.
We were right there, but it was just a tough shooting night.
I started to play the guitar for a couple of years, which was fun. I still bring it out once in a while, could bust out a couple of songs, but I'm not very good at it.