Nuggets Still Upset About the Dirk/Kenyon Thing

by Marcel Mutoni

Denver may have a commanding lead in their series against Dallas, but the fact that Kenyon Martin was fined $25K for shoving Dirk Nowitzki out of bounds in Game 1 is still eating away at them.

George Karl used his time with the press yesterday to blast the League’s decision, and called the fine “crazy”.

The best thing to come out of this entire nonsense, though, is the mini feud between Nuggets VP of player personnel Rex Chapman and the man at the center of the controversy, Dirk Nowitzki.

The Star-Telegram reports:

Said Denver vice president of player personnel Rex Chapman: “He’s a very good actor, and that’s part of the game.” This is not a new development, of course. The Dallas Mavericks star has been accused of flopping before. And he will be again. At playoff time, when every play is magnified and analyzed to ridiculous extremes, Nowitzki knows the drill. Kenyon Martin gave him a shove to the hardwood in the first quarter of Game 1. Martin was fined $25,000 for the act. Now, Nowitzki’s getting jabs from long-forgotten NBA players.

“I didn’t know Rex Chapman was still alive,” Nowitzki said Tuesday.

“I don’t think I acted on that play. It was pretty obvious that I drove baseline, got bumped, got the foul and kept on driving. Sometimes with the continuation in this league, he wanted to make sure I didn’t lay it in and give them [the refs] a chance to count the basket. “I don’t think I am necessarily an actor. I try to play hard. And that’s about it.”

Yes, Dirk, Rex is still very much alive. And if your teammates don’t pick up some of those acting skills soon, it’s your team that will be pronounced dead.