Following their loss to the Miami Heat in the 2006 NBA Finals, Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks picked up where they left off and continued their dominance in the next regular season. They did even better than before, finishing with a 67-15 record and getting the top spot in the NBA.
Not only did the team excel, but their star player Nowitzki was particularly unstoppable, ultimately winning his first and only MVP title. With their strong showing throughout the season, it made sense that everyone was looking forward to seeing them go far in the NBA playoffs.
However, the playoffs took an unexpected turn when they faced the Golden State Warriors, also known as the “We Believe Warriors,” in the opening round. Nobody thought the Warriors, who were the eighth seed, would be a massive threat for the Mavericks, yet they shocked everyone by beating them 4-2 in the first round.
It was a disappointing year for Mavericks fans, and undeniably for a player like Nowitzki, who was the team’s best player and had just registered an MVP-caliber season. Recently on the “All The Smoke” podcast, Nowitzki reflected on this experience, sharing how hard it was to lose to an eighth seed in the first round after their dominant regular season showing.
“That was a tough matchup…Not only did Nelly know every strength of ours since he coached us, and he knew exactly what to do…A lot of teams obviously had the blueprint, but they didn’t have the personnel to pull it off. You guys had a small team that always gave me problems. You guys were fronting in the post, usually I can catch on anybody, we had a tough time getting the ball to me,” Nowitzki said.
“Then everytime I drove one way and I spun, I fell right into the trap. I liked shooting out of my spin. We didn’t have a great shooting team, we didn’t have a great passing team, so both of these things you guys just took advantage of, and it was tough. I couldn’t stop the bleeding, I didn’t shoot well, that was probably my worst playoff series that I’ve played in,” Dirk continued.
