Dirk Nowitzki came into his final game in Boston Friday night one bucket short of setting the record for most points scored by a Western Conference opponent in the TD Garden (Nowitzki was tied with Kobe Bryant).
Nowitzki went 0-of-10 and left the Garden still tied.
But the Boston faithful know a legend when they see one and sent Nowitzki off with a standing ovation anyway as they cheered him on to get that bucket.
Nowitzki was touched, as he told NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg.“Super sweet, super emotional,” said Nowitzki. “It’s sweet when not only your home fans but the fans on the road appreciate what you’ve done in the last two decades. I appreciate the fans of Boston and, unfortunately, really disappointed I couldn’t even make one.”
“They were trying to make me score at the end,” said Nowitzki. “On the one switch [in the post], I think it was [guard Brad] Wanamaker, he didn’t even put his hands up and I still came up real short [on a fadeaway from the blocks]. Just wasn’t my night, unfortunately. I wish I would have at least made one. That was nice of the Celtics to try to get me that record, it just wasn’t happening.”Boston got the win 114-93 behind Jaylen Brown’s 21 points.