Dirk went from outside the top 50 to inside the top 20 in one post season?

[3ball]

When you beat a super team formed through collusion that promises their fans 8 rings, that's what happens.

Exactly - he overcame the biggest talent deficit ever in a Finals, so it's probably the greatest upset in hoops history

Some people might say the 04' Pistons but they had a better cast then Dirk did

[Young X]

He was spectacular in crunch time in that series and record breaking out west.

Put some respeck on it.

He was 9-27 in game 6 and get bailed out by Jason Terry. If Lebron didn't choke, you would be criticizing Dirk for not showing up.

[warriorfan]

He was 9-27 in game 6 and get bailed out by Jason Terry. If Lebron didn't choke, you would be criticizing him for not showing up.

You can nit pick a few games but you have to admit his whole body of work during those playoffs was incredible

[Young X]

You can nit pick a few games but you have to admit his whole body of work during those playoffs was incredible

Of course it was, but that wasn't the difference in why the Mavs won. Lebron choking was. And Dirk's teammates stepping up.

If D-Wade in 2006 would've played like Lebron did in 2011, you would be praising Dirk in 2006 the same way.

[warriorfan]

Of course it was, but that wasn't the difference in why the Mavs won. Lebron choking was. And Dirk's teammates stepping up.

If D-Wade in 2006 would've played like Lebron did in 2011, you would be praising Dirk in 2006 the same way.

Maybe, you can play what if

[DMAVS41]

Of course it was, but that wasn't the difference in why the Mavs won. Lebron choking was. And Dirk's teammates stepping up.

If D-Wade in 2006 would've played like Lebron did in 2011, you would be praising Dirk in 2006 the same way.

Definitely agree with the bold, but I think what gets lost in the "the difference wasn't Dirk it was his teammates / Lebron choking" statement (which I agree with by the way) is that it minimizes just how great of a player and how great of an impact Dirk had as a player.

It's like...yea, they finally won because Terry played well and they had a center that fit well next to Dirk...and had a little luck. Well, welcome to nearly every title-winning team ever. Get a little luck and have a well-built team around the star player.

And while his first half in the last game was poor...and his overall series was not as good as his Western Conference play, his performance tends to get under-rated by you and others in the Finals. He also played a game sick...

Still put up 26/10/2 and was on god-level in crunch time when his team needed him the most. You can't really say it was "teammates and Lebron choke" because almost no NBA players are capable of putting up those clutch performances as basically the sole offensive threat of a team against an elite defensive team.. Again, Terry was great, but it all comes off of Dirk...

At the end of the day...Dirk from roughly 02 through 13 was a championship level franchise player...and the results show that. Very few players in NBA history can claim something like that with the type of longevity Dirk had as well.

So he's correctly ranked in the top 20 or so all-time imo.

[ImKobe]

Of course it was, but that wasn't the difference in why the Mavs won. Lebron choking was. And Dirk's teammates stepping up.

If D-Wade in 2006 would've played like Lebron did in 2011, you would be praising Dirk in 2006 the same way.

Mavs don't make the Finals without Dirk going nuclear in the WCF. He might have not had his best series in the Finals but he still hit a game-winner (in Game 2) and then played at an elite level in their 3 straight wins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k4Li-iT8QU

Heat would have been up 2 - 0 and they did win Game 3 as well despite Dirk's efficient 34/11. Chris Bosh had the game-winner in that one. Then you go Game 4 and Dirk again scores in the last 15 seconds to give his team a 3-point lead after D-Wade missed the game-tying FT.

Dirk averaged 10.3 ppg on 51% shooting with 100% from the Ft line in the 4th quarters of those Finals with a lot of them coming down to the last few minutes. I'd say Dirk made a hell of a difference in that series.

[FultzNationRISE]

Lol. Kobe made the opposite drop.

[Dragonyeuw]

To me 55 was low back in 2011. I mean there's no scientific formula, but the how's have always mattered. As someone said earlier, Dirk wasn't as great in the 2011 finals as he was earlier that playoffs, but the enduring narrative will be that he beat a prime Lebron/Wade/Bosh (the fine print is that the Heat likely comfortably win in 6 if Bron played as well as he did against Chicago the prior round). Had Dirk beaten, say, the Bulls in the finals that year instead it wouldn't be the same legacy booster ( though he would still climb in the rankings, just not as much).

[tpols]

He was 9-27 in game 6 and get bailed out by Jason Terry. [COLOR="Red"]If Lebron didn't choke[/COLOR], you would be criticizing Dirk for not showing up.

I mean... thats not a rare occurence.

And you didnt address the point.

Dirk dominated 4th quarters in that series to an extent we havent seen before or after.

And his play in the wild west...

nice cherrypick though.

[Young X]

I mean... thats not a rare occurence.

And you didnt address the point.

Dirk dominated 4th quarters in that series to an extent we havent seen before or after.

And his play in the wild west...

nice cherrypick though.

I already addressed it. I agreed he was incredible.

But you're the type of fan that thinks a player who sucks for an entire game, gets carried by his teammates and finally hits a couple clutch shots and wins was better than someone who carried his team but missed the gamewinning shot.

Because the first guy "came through when it mattered". Totally ignoring how lucky the first guy was.

That's the Klay Thompson special. Nobody remembers all the times he sucked because his teammates always made up for it. So when he finally does have those explosive games that's all people remember.

[DMAVS41]

I already addressed it. I agreed he was incredible.

But you're the type of fan that thinks a player who sucks for an entire game, gets carried by his teammates and finally hits a couple clutch shots and wins was better than someone who carried his team but missed the gamewinning shot.

Because the first guy "came through when it mattered". Totally ignoring how lucky the first guy was.

That's the Klay Thompson special. Nobody remembers all the times he sucked because his teammates always made up for it. So when he finally does have those explosive games that's all people remember.

Sure, but that doesn't apply here as the entire offense ran through Dirk and his presence alone was super valuable to the rest of the team even if his efficiency wasn't elite (not like it was terrible either). He isn't Klay just feasting off Curry/Durant...dude was legit the only guy that could consistently do anything on offense on that team without being spoonfed wide open shots.

Close games are inevitable...especially against a team like those Heat...not many teams are capable of blowing that 11 team out...so you are going to have to win some close games...and it would be hard to perform better than Dirk and the Mavs did in those close games.

At the end of the day...it was not an all-time great series, but 26/10/2 54% TS while being the only offensive player that can create offense for himself and others...while also playing all-time great in the clutch to win as a big underdog was really impressive and capped off a truly all-time great 10 year run by Dirk.

[AussieSteve]

I already addressed it. I agreed he was incredible.

But you're the type of fan that thinks a player who sucks for an entire game, gets carried by his teammates and finally hits a couple clutch shots and wins was better than someone who carried his team but missed the gamewinning shot.

Because the first guy "came through when it mattered". Totally ignoring how lucky the first guy was.

That's the Klay Thompson special. Nobody remembers all the times he sucked because his teammates always made up for it. So when he finally does have those explosive games that's all people remember.

I remember looking into Dirk' s 2011 finals in a fair bit of detail a couple of years ago and his stats are quite staggering.

Don't quote me on this because it won't be exact, but his numbers in the 4 games they won were something like 14ppg on 35%efg in the first 3 quarters. It was Miami being awful and Dallas' roll players playing well that kept it close.

Sure he had 10+ppg in q4, but like 5 or 6 points of these were through late game free throws.

Having said all this, the rest of that playoff run was pretty epic.