Dirk Nowitzki’s dream career isn’t over yet

I actually don’t remember the young, lost Dirk Nowitzki all that well. He arrived in the league before the advent of League Pass, debuting in the blur that was the 50-game lockout season. He was a bit of joke among basketball fans ... until he wasn’t. Dirk didn’t have some gradual rise to the top of his field, though he did improve over time. It was more the case that one minute, he was a bust that made us skeptical of European imports. Then all of a sudden, he was magical.

He’s been magical ever since. On Tuesday he became the sixth player in history to score 30,000 points, dropping 25 on the Lakers in a Mavericks win. Dirk scored the Mavs’ first eight points and 18 in the first quarter. He’s 38 years old. He’s hitting a crazy milestone late in his career and he’s still winning games for his team. Nowitzki is a big part of the reason Dallas still has hope for making the postseason despite beginning the season 2-13 and 6-20.

Watch the shot that got Dirk to the milestone. Watch Dirk’s longtime shooting coach react to the achievement. Read Danny Webster’s awesome Dirk timeline. Check out LeBron paying his respects to Dirk. Read Tim MacMahon on Dirk’s evolution.

POR 126, OKC 121
LAL 111, DAL 122
WAS 131, PHX 127

Shout out to the Portland Trail Blazers, who had their most complete win of the season on Tuesday, beating the Thunder. Russell Westbrook, seeking to wrestle back MVP heat, broke a franchise record with 58 points. But Portland had too much Jusuf Nurkic down the stretch. The Blazers are now 1.5 games behind Denver for No. 8, with Dallas another half-game back.

The Suns’ mascot dove onto the court to retrieve a baton or something while the teams were in play on his end of the court.

I have five ways to improve the competitiveness of the NBA All-Star Game without turning it completely into a circus.

Tim Cato on the moment Kawhi Leonard grabbed the MVP race.

Brandon Jennings and Jared Dudley got ejected in a scuffle that involved finger gunz and a head butt.

Really good Chuck Culpepper story on two stars of the epic Villanova-North Carolina college championship game, now crossing paths in the D-League.

Fascinating piece by Patrick Hruby on whether racial resentment contributes to opposition to paying college athletes.

Dwyane Wade The God rented out a Waffle House for National Pancake Day.

This week on the Drive & Kick podcast Flanns and Gonz talk about Kawhi, Andrew Bogut, and the still-surging Miami Heat.

Nike is launching a line of performance hijabs. This is your reminder that FIBA still doesn’t allow women who compete in its tournaments to wear religious headgear, which is patently ridiculous.

Michael Lee talks to Chris Paul about balancing basketball with labor negotiations. Someday, we’ll give CP3 the recognition he richly deserves.

Markieff Morris has been excellent since New Year’s.

Lonzo Ball’s dad is now going after Charles Barkley.

Ben Cohen on the great Pete Carril, always a proponent of spacing.

Cool story from Scott Howard-Cooper on NBA involvement in a USO trip to Afghanistan.

SLAM recreated a famous Iverson cover for Joel Embiid, and Adam Figman wrote an excellent feature on The Process.

And finally: We are all DeAndre Jordans in some aspect of our lives, trying to be like our Chris Pauls.