Germany coach Dirk Bauermann hails Dirk Nowitzki after FIBA EuroBasket exit – Basketball News
The German National Men’s Basketball team crashed out of FIBA EuroBasket much earlier than was expected of the side. The German’s had a good side spear headed by NBA super star Dirk Nowitzki, who, after the exit blamed himself.
Germany coach Dirk Bauermann though did not agree with his star forward and hailed his display and character.
Dirk Nowitzki is one of the biggest names in basketball. The German was one of the first real stars to arise from outside of America in the NBA and has achieved it all in the game since making the move there.
He joined the Dallas Mavericks and has been with the franchise throughout his NBA career. In that span Nowitzki has won everything, including the regular season NBA MVP award, the Finals MVP award and the NBA World Championship.
Nowitzki has a terrific but long season last time out as he guided the Mavericks to triumph over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. The forward was hailed far and wide for his displays which left the aging German pretty exhausted.
However the character of the man is such that he did not take the easy option of skipping the EuroBasket tournament and linked up with the German side just mere weeks after the Finals. He played well for Germany but was visibly
not a hundred percent, eventually failing to take the side much far.
His coach said after the exit from the tournament that no blame should be attached to Dirk. He was a consummate professional and one of the nicest persons around who did his best for the country.
He also thanked Dirk just for turning up after having such a gruelling NBA campaign behind him.
"There is no better person in the game of basketball. He was just the most wonderful person to be around and obviously one of the greatest players, maybe the greatest player that Europe has ever produced and probably one of the
top three in the world. I give him so much credit for having played here.”
"He had a super short break after winning the NBA championship. Obviously he wasn't rested and 99 percent of NBA players wouldn't have played under these circumstances. He dragged himself out here and he gave us everything he had."
Nowitzki himself has since overcome his initial disappointment at the exit. Germany failed to secure a top six finish that would have opened a gate to qualifying for the London Olympics 2012. Dirk is now of the view that he could
have helped the team more had he been completely fit, but said even then his side would not have been too well placed to win the tournament.
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