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DALLAS – Dirk Nowitzki returned to 6th place in the NBA scorers' standings, overtaking Wilt Chamberlain on Monday night.
Nowitzki, the Dallas Mavericks franchise's longtime face, who will play his 21st and possibly last season, spent a few years as the sixth-leading scorer in NBA history before LeBron James overtook him more. early this season. He started Monday night's game against the New Orleans Pélicans, needing four points to overtake Chamberlain, who scored 31,419 points during his career at the Hall of Fame.
Nowitzki toppled his first two jumpers of the match to make it through the first quarter. He overtook Chamberlain by scoring a 16-foot goal with 8 minutes and 33 seconds left in the first quarter, catching the ball at one of his favorite spots, just above the free-throw line, facing Kenrich Williams of New Orleans and shooting at him. , much to the delight of a sold-out crowd who was mainly on his feet in anticipation of the moment.
The all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is now the only seven-footer to score more career points than Nowitzki, who revolutionized the game as a great player whose shot was the most dangerous. This contrasted sharply with the dominators of the past who commissioned painting and post-ups, particularly Chamberlain, whose size and athleticism combined his lead.
Nowitzki entered Monday night with 1,960 three-point players in his career, which ranks 11th in the history of the NBA and is by far the largest of his 7-footers. The other 7 players ranked among the top 10 scorers in the NBA combined to give a total of two 3-point markers – one by Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O-Neal, while Chamberlain played his entire career before the There was a line of points.
The game has changed in part because of the success of Nowitzki as a perimeter threat. Before coming to the NBA, Arvydas Sabonis was the only seven-footer to make at least 25 3s in a season, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information. This modest stage has since been touched by 30 7-foot players, including Nowitzki, who has done so in each of the past 20 seasons, with more than 100 goals scored nine times. There are 17 players of 7 feet who have already achieved at least 25 3 this season.
Nowitzki has also developed a niche as master of the medium. According to research by ESPN Stats & Information, its 5,662 points have been ranked among psychics as the highest number of NBA in this field during its career.
Many of these mid-range throws were one-legged jumpers, the iconic shot that Nowitzki has developed in the middle of his career, casting them both dribbling at isolations and post-ups. Unlike the open hook of Adbul-Jabbar, a similar shot, several counterparts of Nowitzki copied his move.
Nowitzki, 40, is almost certain to finish his career as sixth overall scorer. He has not decided yet whether it would be the last season of his career, but we are generally expecting him to retire and he was given an unofficial farewell tour in the league. He missed the first 26 games of the season as he was recovering from an operation at the left ankle and averaged 6.0 points per game during his 21st year.
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