About 20 years ago, on May 3, 2001, the Dallas Mavericks played a win-or-go-home Game 5 against the favored Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. It was the biggest Mavericks game in the past 10 years, since the great teams of the late 1980s faded and the stink of the 1990s took hold.
Dallas was led by a young, foreign born player. You might have heard of him — Dirk Nowitzki, the sweet-shooting 7-footer in his third season and only 22-years-old. Nowitzki had taken the leap in that 2001 season, the Mavericks leading scorer and rebounder. He took the most free throws of anyone on the team, showed growth as a passer and improved defensively to keep up with the physical nature of NBA basketball.