WASHINGTON _ Nicolas Brussino has been taking English lessons, but wanted to do his first postgame interview of the season in Spanish.
That's OK. His game against the Washington Wizards translated into any language you want.
Brussino had the best game of his rookie season with personal bests of 11 points and nine rebounds. He was particularly effective in the fourth quarter, when he had eight of his points, four of boards and two critical steals to ignite the Mavericks to a 112-107 victory over the Wizards, one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
"Thank God I had a great game," Brussino said with assistant coach Kaleb Canales translating. "This is a process of working everyday with the coaching staff and his teammates. My teammates believe in me so much, I was glad to be able to have a good game and help get a win."
Brussino did not have a great first half. With Wesley Matthews (right calf strain) out, coach Rick Carlisle needed an extra body to play the wing positions behind Harrison Barnes and Dorian Finney-Smith. Brussino got the call.
With the Mavericks down 80-73 after three quarters, Brussino had a steal that set up a Dirk Nowitzki 3-pointer, then hit a pair of treys himself as the Mavericks went on a 24-7 blitz to go ahead 97-87.
Though they missed some free throws, they were able to hang on.
Brussino said he was somewhat surprised that he played 23 minutes, one shy of his season high.
"I knew coming in every day was going to be a competition for minutes," Brussino said. "I know I'm playing against the best players in the world. I'm going to stay prepared and all the hard work paid off tonight."
Brussino is continuing to take English lessons and is getting better with the new language. But there's one thing he doesn't have trouble translating.
When he was informed in English he was one rebound shy of a double-double, a big smile broke out across his face.
