Dirk Nowitzki and Stephen Curry have a couple of things in common, especially their loyalty to their franchise and the sacrifices they’ve made to make them successful organizations. You can say Dirk had a harder job than Curry but they had to work hard to reach a good position in the league and win a championship.
The admiration of the German player for the Golden State Warriors superstar is huge and he doesn’t miss a chance to pay respect to Steph. Recently, as Steph got close to Wilt Chamberlain’s record of the most points scored in the Warriors’ history, Dirk talked with ESPN’s Nick Friedell. He praised Curry and his style of play, revealing the 3x NBA champion is one of his favorite players.
Dirk, as many NBA fans around the world, tends to yell at the TV trying to magically be heard by players.
Nowitzki (21 seasons in Dallas; Mavericks’ all-time leading scorer): Just to make it cool to pull up from anywhere when you cross half court. He’s the first guy to start shooting those deep 3s. Now everybody pulls up from the logo easily, but Steph was kind of the first guy, especially out of the dribble, and he just comes down in the middle of the game, shot clock wasn’t running down, and he would launch one. At the time it was like, “What is this guy doing?” He was super consistent with it and people are now obviously copying that and starting to shoot from deeper.
I’ve told these stories, when I was watching him in those playoff runs and the building there was rocking, he’d come across half court and I’m yelling at the TV, “Shoot the ball! Like, what are you waiting on?” I’m fired up. He’s one of my favorite players to watch. He’s definitely changed the game from a shooting perspective.
We understand how Dirk feels. If you don’t like watching Curry, something must be wrong with you. He has become one of the best players in the world, he’s very entertaining to watch and on top of that, he is a winner. He can give you 40, 50 points that won’t be worthless because he can actually get wins to the team.
That’s something he has in common with Dirk and although the Warriors have struggled this season, Curry has proven time and time again that he is one of the most valuable players in the association.
