It's probably a good thing for the Mavericks' and especially Dirk Nowitzki's sake that they got a rare two-day break between games.
The significance of Nowitzki joining the NBA's 30,000-point club Tuesday night reverberated well into Wednesday.
Nowitzki said during a late-afternoon Wednesday appearance on 105.3 The Fan that in addition to the single Bud Light he allowed himself immediately after Tuesday's game against the Lakers, he had "a few" during a postgame party that lasted well past midnight.
The party, Nowitzki said, included his teammates, coaches, close friends, wife Jessica, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and longtime Mavericks employees.
"Even when I came home, I just could not sleep, man," Nowitzki said on The Fan. "I was buzzing still. I was high on adrenaline. I was fired up. Then I actually laid down and started going through some of the stuff on Twitter, looking at the video they made, the German one and English one.
"So I didn't go to sleep for a long, long time. It was a short night, for sure."
Perhaps Nowitzki still had leftover adrenaline in his 38-year-old body, judging by this comment, after reiterating that he intends to finish his two-year contract and play next season, his 20th.
"And then, I don't know, we'll just see," Nowitzki said. "Twenty years sounds great, but if I'm still having fun and, like I said, the body's holding up, I'll meet with family again and see and we'll make a decision. As of now, I think I want to leave the end open, but definitely want to come back next year and compete at a high level."
Earlier Wednesday, Nowitzki tweeted this message, with a typically self-deprecating hashtag: "Huge thanks to everyone, who has reached out. I'm humbled and overwhelmed. Honored to be part of the 30k club! [hashtag]old"
Though the Mavericks did not practice Wednesday, the players and coaches participated in an event for season-ticket holders.
The Mavericks will return to practice Thursday, at which time coach Rick Carlisle will use the sloppy second half of Tuesday's 122-111 win over the Lakers as a teaching point as the team prepares to end a five-game homestand (3-0 so far) with games Friday against Brooklyn and Saturday against Phoenix.
"I know one thing I'm not celebrating is that horse(expletive) second half we played," Carlisle said after the Lakers game, when asked how long he would celebrate Nowitzki's milestone. "That was ugly.
"I've kind of made a deal with myself that tonight's about Dirk, but we're going to have to play a hell of a lot better than that this weekend. Because this back-to-back is really big."
Entering Wednesday night's games, the surging Mavericks, with 19 games left, were only two games in the loss column behind Denver for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
"It's pretty impressive, what they're doing," Lakers coach Luke Walton said of the Mavericks. "They're playing at a pretty high level right now. Honestly, I won't be surprised if they end up making the playoffs as the 8-seed."
