NBA Powerless Rankings: Dirk Nowitzki’s attempts at defense

4. Right through

The problem here is that Dirk appeared to volunteer for this moment. When Russell Westbrook lobs the ball back to Paul George, Nowitzki steps up. One could say that, he should be applauded for his bravery, but another might say courage isn’t foolish. This is more of an act of sacrifice, except he’s sacrificing for the wrong team.

This year, lining up against Dirk Nowitzki is treated as a gift. I feel like at some point this year, every rotation guard is going to get at least one chance to showcase their best move like it’s a practice drill on a particularly tall cone. When your moment comes, you take it.

George took his. He did hesitate, but that was on purpose. It’s called a “hesitation move,” I’m told. George barely had to do a fake of any sort. Just the idea of a fake being a possibility was enough to freeze Nowitzki to the floor. A moment later, George was in the paint, and then he dunked the basketball through the basketball hoop with explosive basketball force.

If anyone here sacrificed anything, it was probably Westbrook. There was a Dirk Dunk chance right in front of him, and he handed it off to his new teammate. To be fair, Westbrook has been in the Western Conference longer than George has, so he’s had this opportunity before. Maybe it was an early Christmas gift. It’s a shame that a European man’s pain is so in demand.

Good guy, that Westbrook. He does what he wants, and he does it for other people.