One Last Hurrah

Could Nowitzki become just another
Charles Barkley?

The Dallas Mavericks are back in the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2006, and are looking to take full advantage of this rare opportunity. For many of the current Maverick players it is their final shot to be crowned an NBA champion. Only two members remain from that '06 Dallas team that fell short in the NBA Finals after winning the first two games of the series, only to drop the next four to the Miami Heat. Dirk Nowitzki is on a mission to not let history repeat itself.

    Nowitzki came out of the gate quickly in Game 1, scoring 48 points on twelve of fifteen shooting. The seven-footer did most of his damage at the free throw, heading to the charity strike thirteen times. There Nowitzki set a NBA record for most free throws made consecutively without a miss, going twenty-four of twenty-four from the line.

    The German had a tough act to follow after his Game 1 performance, but did his best scoring a game high 29 points, although it wasn't enough as Oklahoma City tied the series at a game apiece, handing Dallas their first home playoff loss of the season. Nowitzki is a future Hall of Famer and cemented himself as the greatest Maverick in history, but is still in search of his first NBA title that has eluded himself for far too long.

    Nowitzki knows this could be this final shot and has taken matters into his own hands.

    The same could be said for point guard Jason Kidd. Like Nowitzki, Kidd is also a future Hall of Famer and one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, but is still chasing his first ring. Kidd came close during his stint in New Jersey, reaching the NBA Finals back-to-back years in '02 and '03, but lost both times with the Nets.

    Kidd, 38, now in his 17th NBA season, finds himself as one of the five oldest active players in the NBA today. Originally drafted by the Mavs with the second overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft, Kidd is trying to bring home Dallas's first NBA title in franchise history and have everything come full circle.

    Veterans Jason Terry and Peja Stojakvic have also made their presence felt off the bench with their ability to stretch the floor. Terry has been with Dallas since the start of the '04-'05 season and the only other remaining member of that '06 NBA Finals team. Dallas has made ten straight playoff appearances and Terry has been there for six of them.

Kidd is trying to end where it all
began.

Along with Terry's postseason pedigree comes Stojakvic's resume. At the turn of the century Stojakvic was a member of those great Sacramento King teams coach by Rick Adelman that nearly went to multiple NBA Finals. The Serbia native also played for the Indiana Pacers and Chris Paul's New Orleans Hornets, making the postseason three times combined between those two teams. In total Stojakvic has made the postseason eleven times in his twelve-year career.

    The story is much of the same for their head coach Rick Carlisle. Even though Carlisle won an NBA championship as a member of the Boston Celtics during his playing days, he also lost twice to the Los Angeles Lakers in '85 and '87. Carlisle has never made an NBA Finals appearance as a head coach, but is widely considered one of the best in his profession, even without the hardware.

   If Dallas comes up short yet again, they can add their names to an already laundry list of legendary players and coaches who never had the privilege of being called a champion, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Don Nelson to name a few.

     A lot rides on this postseason for Dallas, as they know they might never be back. Legacies will be cemented or dipleted this year in the great state of Texas.