PHOENIX_Dirk Nowitzki made his season debut for the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, and he quickly made it clear that he has no intentions of being a mere Christmas decoration on this team, even if he is something of a fragile ornament.
The 40-year-old bounced out of the tunnel and onto the court for pregame warmups about 80 minutes before tipoff against the Phoenix Suns, laughing, stretching, needling teammates and anybody else within earshot for everything from the way they wear their warmups to hairstyle.
Yep, not much has changed.
Right down to the fadeaway jump shot that he banked in over Josh Jackson just 40 seconds after entering the game with 3:27 left in the first half of the Mavericks' sloppy showing against the Suns.
With the Mavericks shooting horribly, the Suns took a 99-89 victory, ending the Mavericks' three-game winning streak and extending their road woes. The Mavericks now are 2-10 on the road and 0-2 in Phoenix after having lost the season opener to the Suns on their home floor.
Phoenix is 2-0 against the Mavericks and 3-24 against everybody else.
It wasn't much, but Nowitzki ended up putting in 6 minutes, 10 seconds in the first half. He was not expected to return in the second half, which was the way his debut was planned. After hitting the bank shot, he missed a 3-pointer, but the fact that he got through a short stint of hard action without incident was cause for celebration.
Nowitzki had surgery on his left ankle April 5. After several setbacks, he finally hit a stretch in the last month where he felt comfortable with all the basketball moves that his aging body will allow him to make.
The ankle and foot pain slowly subsided. And the training staff was convinced there was no chance of aggravating the ankle beyond the normal risks.
So Nowitzki is back, more than eight months after the surgery.
"Having him in uniform, with everything he's done for this franchise and meant to this franchise, is important to us," coach Rick Carlisle said.
Carlisle had been consistent in saying essentially nothing about when Nowitzki would make his season debut. It had become obvious earlier this week that the seventh-leading scorer in NBA history would be in action at some point this week.
History happens just about every time Nowitzki steps on the floor, but Thursday night was just a little more special. When he entered the game, he became the first to play 21 seasons with one franchise.
His minutes will be limited to start with. He was only expected to play about 12 minutes in the late game at Phoenix.
His first shot, of course, was a fadeaway jumper that banked in less than a minute after he had checked into the game.
He seemed to be moving well_at least, as well as could be expected from a man playing against kids half his age.
And the Phoenix crowd seemed to have an appreciation for the moment. Nowitzki got a nice applause after his first bucket.
The goal is to mesh Nowitzki with the second unit as a floor-spacer on the offensive end. Clearly, his lateral quickness is limited, so the defensive end of the floor will have to be a group effort.
The important thing about Thursday was simply the presence of Nowitzki.
Before the game, he was trading free throws and 3-pointers with Luka Doncic. It was very much a past-and-future moment, right in the here and now.
The hope is that Doncic can begin learning from the legend in the final two-thirds of the season.
