Dirk Nowitzki Overcome With Emotion After Winning Championship


We all saw Dirk bolt from the court after the Mavs had secured the ‘chip, and he explains that he had to get some time alone to savor the moment before facing the world again. From ESPN: “On the night he finally found vengeance, eternal validation and the highest measure of victory to wag in the face of anyone who had ever called him soft or mocked his cough, Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t going to let the world see his tears. So he left the scene of his greatest triumph before a single teammate or coach could grab him for a hug, faster than he’s ever hurdled a scorer’s table to bolt off the floor, and sneaked back to the visitors locker room. To cry alone. ‘I could already feel the tears coming,’ Nowitzki said in an AmericanAirlines Arena hallway, beaming now as he explained the mad dash at the final buzzer that superseded any urge he felt to dance on the court inside this house of old horrors … or to find out how it feels to get a congratulatory man-hug from Dwyane Wade. ‘I had to recover, bro.’ The Dallas Mavericks had to drag Nowitzki back to the podium of champions Sunday night so he could hoist the two trophies of his dreams, because he didn’t want anyone to see him like this, whether they were inside AmericaAirlines Arena or watching on TV. He admittedly ‘cried like a baby’ back in 2008 upon clinching Germany’s qualification for the Olympics for the first time in his career, but Nowitzki confessed that he was literally shaking with shock in the immediate aftermath of the Mavs’ 105-95 dismantling of the Miami Heat to win the 2011 NBA Finals. ‘We’re world champions,’ Nowitzki eventually said once he made it to the interview room, with his Finals MVP trophy and a champagne bottle in tow. ‘It sounds unbelievable.'”