In the NBA, and sports in general, calling something "the greatest" is often thrown around without proper historical context. In the case of single-game NBA performances, the greatest scoring performance will probably never be eclipsed.
In the process of deeming things the greatest and searching for historical context for greatness, sports fans and sports media don't tend to devote a whole lot of time to things that are unique, once-in-a-lifetime performances. On Tuesday night, Dirk Nowitzki put together a performance so unique that it is unlikely to be replicated ever again.
Make no mistake, the fact that Nowitzki simply scored 48 points in a playoff game is not unique. As long as there are NBA playoff games, players will score that many from time to time. In fact, the 48 points Nowitzki scored did not even represent a career high total for a playoff game. What is almost sure to never be accomplished again is the fact that he did it while only taking 15 shots from the floor and going perfect from the line.
Nowitzki's performance was the most efficient game by a single player in NBA history, much less in NBA playoff history.
A solid case could be made that Dirk's Game 1 against the Thunder was one of the greatest playoff performances period. Due to the fact that it was only Game 1 of a series and it took place before the NBA Finals, one would still have to rank it behind a host of Michael Jordan performances, Magic Johnson's 42 in Game 6 of the 1980 Finals while playing center and other classic games that were closer to the final hurdle.
The fact that Nowitzki's performance on Tuesday night cannot be called "greatest" should not detract from its greatness. According to basketball-reference.com's data that spans individual games from the 1985-86 season until now, scoring 40 points on 15 or less field goal attempts had only been done six times, regular season and playoffs included. No more than 43 points had been scored in any of those occasions.
Two of the instances came from centers that did not have to shoot the mid-range jumpers Nowitzki did on Tuesday. Three others were helped by three-point attempts (Nowitzki, despite well-known three-point range, did not attempt one on Tuesday). Strangely enough, the closest parallel to Nowitzki's performance on Tuesday comes from a March 1993 game where Cedric Ceballos scored 40 on 14 attempts and went 12-for-12 from the free throw line.
Nowitzki's 24-for-24 performance from the line represents an NBA record for free throw attempts without a miss in any game, regular season or playoffs. His field goal percentage of .800 (12-for-15) was the highest percentage from any player in a Western Conference Finals game. Using the points per shot metric, Dirk averaged 3.2 points for every field goal attempt. Of all players in this year's playoffs with 100 attempts or more, Nowitzki leads with a 1.71 average.
Just as impressive as the historical statistical milestones Nowitzki achieved Tuesday was the way he took apart the Thunder. Six different defenders were used to try to guard Nowitzki and seven Thunder players committed fouls against the German. Dirk eviscerated his most common one-on-one opponent, Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka, going 7-for-9 when guarded by the Congan. Nowitzki was 6-for-8 when posting Ibaka up, and drew all five of the Thunder power forward's fouls.
Coming into the series, Ibaka looked to be a nearly ideal player to defend Dirk: long, quick, athletic, and of a similar size to Nowitzki so as to prevent being completely shot over. Based on Game 1, Ibaka is not nearly strong enough to deal with those trademark mid-range post-ups Nowitzki features so prominently in his game. The Thunder have to take some solace in the fact that in the previous round against Memphis, Zach Randolph had his best game in Game 1. Yet, Randolph did not have anything resembling a transcendent game in that Game 1.
Living in the Dallas area, the mood of this Mavericks' playoff run, to me at least, has been one of surprise, and above all, appreciation.
Over the past 10 years, the ownership of Mark Cuban and direction of GM Donnie Nelson has transformed what was once a league-wide laughing stock into a perennial 50-win-plus machine. The downside of that machine is that fans had begun to get somewhat jaded and expect such success, especially after the Finals heartbreak of 2006. While wins came, deep playoff runs did not from 2007 until now.
This season, and even going into the playoffs, there was no reason to expect much different. The Mavs had a couple especially encouraging runs, starting out the season 24-5 and winning 18-of-19 in a stretch from late January to early March. A rocky last two months of the season nearly saw Dallas fall to fourth in the West.
In retrospect, a six-game first round playoff series win over Portland in which the Mavs could have easily won each of the six games served as notice that the team was playing closer to its best. Still, no one but the most diehard Mavericks fans could have predicted a sweep of the mighty Lakers. Through out both playoff rounds, and the entire season Dirk has been immense. He helped to carry a team that had more issues throughout the year than its gaudy record would indicate and did so in an unassuming, but still powerful leadership role.
No matter what the end result of this Mavericks' playoff run will be, I will have the utmost appreciation for Dirk not only as an all-time NBA great, but for his ability to produce unbelievably unique performances like the one he conjured up on Tuesday.
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