Despite three starters — Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Kristaps Porzingis — plus a handful of additional rotation players all being unavailable for one reason or another, the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-102 on Tuesday night. Jalen Brunson’s 28 points and, we assume, the presence of the greatest player in franchise history just a few feet away from the court fueled the squad.
Dirk Nowtizki, Mark Followill, and Jeff “Skin” Wade joined the Mavs’ broadcast on Bally’s Sports Southwest, which you can see if you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth media market or have League Pass. Because he’s Dirk Nowitzki and he’s good at a lot of things, the big fella looked to have a great time announcing the game, in part because he was able to openly root for the Mavericks and crack jokes.
The whole thing is fantastic — my favorite part was when Nowitzki said, “It’s always hide me on D, find me on O, that was my motto for 21 years.” He also got to sarcastically respond to Karl-Anthony Towns’ declaration last week that he was “the greatest big man shooter of all time,” which Nowitzki doesn’t seem to agree with. Anyway, Mavericks, please have Dirk do this more often.