The story appears on

Page A15

December 25, 2015

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Basketball

Dirk passes Shaq on scoring list

DIRK Nowitzki moved past Shaquille O’Neal into sixth place on the NBA’s career scoring list, then made the go-ahead basket with 19.2 seconds left in overtime to give the Dallas Mavericks a 119-118 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.

Nowitzki will have plenty of time to think about what it means to pass O’Neal, a longtime rival who beat him in the 2006 NBA Finals. But on Wednesday, the most important thing for the German was getting a win.

“That’s what I play for, is to compete at the highest level for this franchise, for this team,” Nowitzki said. “No. 6 in the bigger picture is a lot bigger than this win in Brooklyn in December, but when you’re out there you don’t think about that. You want to get this win bad and fight out there against a talented team.”

Nowitzki came in needing 10 points to pass the 28,596 O’Neal scored in a career that could be capped with an induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next year. He is sure to get there someday, too, whenever he ends a career that saw him redefine the power forward position.

“You’re talking about a guy who’s a generational great player. (He) totally redefined the game, redefined a position,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said.

Nowitzki moved ahead of O’Neal with one of his high-arching jumpers from the corner with 9:51 left in the second quarter, when just about everything the Mavs threw up went in. He is eighth on the combined NBA-ABA scoring list, behind No. 6 Julius Erving and No. 7 Moses Malone.

In Cleveland, LeBron James scored 24 points, grabbed nine rebounds and added five assists while Kevin Love had 23 points and 13 rebounds to power the Cavaliers over the visiting New York Knicks 91-84. The Cavaliers, 19-7 after their sixth win in a row, squandered an 11-point lead but finished with an 11-2 run for the victory.

Golden State routed Utah 103-85; Milwaukee topped Philadelphia 113-100; New Orleans romped past Portland 115-89; San Antonio drubbed Minnesota 108-83; and Denver beat Phoenix 104-96.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend