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“I’m going to be around if I feel like I have (since) the All-Star break. Before that, obviously I was questioning it a bit. I was a step slow and running up and down wasn’t much fun anymore, but once I started having a little bounce in my step, it’s been fun again. “Still, I would love to be a little more consistent again next year, so I’m going to be putting in some work. What we’re probably going to do is get an MRI on my left knee to make sure nothing is going to act up next year when I come back and then put in some work this summer like I did last year – a lot of running, a lot of lifting, coming in in good shape like I did last year and hopefully don’t have surgery on my knee and be consistent and have a good year.” Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki 

He missed this season's first 27 games and has played only 51 games, totaling this season, totaling 875 points. Last year's lockout-shortened season didn't help Nowitzki's chances of reaching 30,000. He scored 1,342 points in 62 games. "That's tough," Nowitzki said with smile, when asked about his chances of reaching 30,000 points. "I don't know how much time it takes for me to get (5,000 points), but I'm going to be around. "I'm going to be around if I feel like I have (since) the All-Star break. Before that, obviously I was questioning it a bit. I was a step slow and running up and down wasn't much fun anymore, but once I started having a little bounce in my step, it's been fun again. "Still, I would love to be a little more consistent again next year, so I'm going to be putting in some work. What we're probably going to do is get an MRI on my left knee to make sure nothing is going to act up next year when I come back and then put in some work this summer like I did last year - a lot of running, a lot of lifting, coming in in good shape like I did last year and hopefully don't have surgery on my knee and be consistent and have a good year." Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki 

It took the Dallas Mavericks 121 days to get back to .500. It took Dirk Nowitzki maybe 90 seconds to get rid of the beard he has been growing for most of that time. “That shave felt amazing,” Nowitzki said after a 107-89 victory over the New Orleans Hornets improved the Mavs’ record to 40-40. “There was some food caught in there from a few weeks ago.” ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki 

After the final buzzer sounded, Nowitzki made a beeline for the Mavs’ locker room, picked up his razor and began bushwhacking. The beard was gone by the time coach Rick Carlisle addressed the team. After that meeting, Nowitzki and his trusty razor “cleaned up the rest on the neck and behind the ears and the nose hair a little bit.” ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki 

Dwain Price: "It’s been too long. Even my wife stopped kissing me somewhere in February.'' -- #Mavs F Dirk Nowitzki on shaving Twitter @DwainPrice

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki 

Is it appropriate and accurate for Mark Cuban to shoulder all the accountability for the Mavericks missing the playoffs? "Yeah, I mean, it’s not Tyson’s fault or the guys’ or J.J.’s," Dirk Nowitzki said. "Obviously, winning it all, they got a better deal somewhere else. You can’t fault the guys for going there where the money is. I guess that’s part of the business. We let the guys go and it is what it is. "I said it all year long, that we can’t judge yet if it was a mistake or not. I think it’s going to depend on this offseason. If we end up empty-handed again, then maybe it was the wrong decision to let everybody go. But if we make a good move here with all this cap space, then maybe it wasn’t all bad. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what this summer brings." ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban 

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban blames himself for the franchise's failure to make the playoffs this season. The Mavs were officially eliminated Wednesday night, ending a 12-year postseason streak that featured two trips to the NBA Finals and one championship. While Dirk Nowitzki missed a career-high 29 games because of injury, Cuban acknowledges he failed to construct a roster good enough to give the Mavs a chance to contend. "We obviously should have had more," Cuban said before Friday's home game against the Denver Nuggets. "I don't know if we could have, but we should have. And so it's all on me. If that means I let (coach Rick Carlisle) down, I let Rick down. "People always give me s---. 'Why do you put your email up on the screen? And why are you always out front?' This is why. So if someone's got a shot to take, take it at me. My job is to make sure we put everybody in position to succeed and we obviously didn't." ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban 

So the search for a major talent upgrade will continue this summer. "Trust me, we want to do that," Cuban said Wednesday evening, referring to giving Nowitzki a legitimate co-star. "If you've got the guy who's going to say, 'You know what, I'm going to come to the Mavericks no matter what,' let me know." ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Free Agency, Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban 

When Dirk Nowitzki said on Sunday that he would be happy to accompany owner Mark Cuban on any recruiting trips he makes when free agency opens on July 1, it was great news for Cuban. Could he envision a tag-team recruiting pitch? “Yeah, obviously,” Cuban said. “He hasn’t been shy to make calls in the past. He just hasn’t been in the country. He’s happy to text and make calls. He just hasn’t been here. Dirk will do anything. He’s a team player from top to bottom.” Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Free Agency, Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban 

“I’ll be reflective after the season’s over,” Nowitzki said after Thursday’s practice, about 12 hours after the Los Angeles Lakers’ late win in Portland officially eliminated the Mavs from playoff contention. “We’ve still got four games and I don’t want to mail it in. “I want to play hard and hopefully win some. I think a winning season would be nice for this tough, up-and-down season, so that’s what we’re going for.” ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki 

Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki did not practice Tuesday due to the foot/ankle injury he suffered in Sunday’s win over Portland. Nowitzki suffered the injury during the second quarter Sunday and sat out the entire fourth quarter after feeling pain and stiffness. “He did a little bit of stuff on the side today,” coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. “He’s doing better. We don’t consider this a serious thing. We’re hopeful that he’s going to play tomorrow.” ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Injuries 

And Nowitzki has made it abundantly clear to Cuban that another season like this one isn’t something he’s interested in. “My last couple years, I’d love to contend,” he said. “We’ve been a championship team that one year, and once you smell that victory, you want to smell it again. I don’t want to go anywhere else. [Cuban] knows that. Everybody knows that. I want to be a Maverick for life. “But I do want to play for a championship again my last couple years. So this is a big summer for us. We got a draft. We got trades. That’s the good thing with salary-cap room, you don’t always have to sign a free agent, you can take some money back in a sign-and-trade. We’ll see what we can come up with.” Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Free Agency, Trade, Dirk Nowitzki 

There is a hard reality to be faced here, and that is that one of the fiercest competitors the NBA has ever known and certainly the best European player to ever play the game is probably never going to see the second round of the playoffs again. Nowitzki is talking about retiring after another year or two, and it’s difficult to see how the Mavericks put a championship-caliber team around him in that short period of time given the current state of the roster. HoopsWorld

Dallas Mavericks, Free Agency, Trade, Dirk Nowitzki 

"Now that I already reached my goal (of winning it all), I really want to finish my career in Dallas," Nowitzki told USA TODAY Sports recently. "But saying all that, I don't want another year next year with the same as this year, (with) the frustration and playing for the eight or nine seed. I think we all know that this is a very big summer for us. (Mavericks general manager) Donnie (Nelson) knows. Cuban knows. We want to get back to the championship level." USA Today Sports

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki 

"I tried to make the best out of it the last two years, and then I had some injury problems," said Nowitzki, the former MVP who missed the first 27 games because of right knee surgery but has looked like himself again of late. "But looking back, I think it was sad. I miss some of those guys we went to war with every night, but I think it's going to be a big summer for us." USA Today Sports

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki 

"Of course he doesn't want to fight for an eighth seed in the future; none of us do," Cuban told USA TODAY Sports via e-mail. "Beyond that, like he has told me and the world, he can't see himself being anywhere else." USA Today Sports

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban 

Dave McMenamin: Dwight on Dirk's beard: "Keep it going. I wish I could grow facial hair like that." He will if L.A. wins. Dirk cuts it when DAL gets to .500 Twitter @mcten

Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Howard 

Me: Are you still confident the front office can build a contender again? Dirk Nowitzki: I think sometimes you just need to gamble a little bit. You need to take chances. You may have to take a contract that people may say is not a good contract. But the great thing is if you have cap space, you can do that. I think with cap space you can still turn a franchise around pretty quick. So, yeah, we're just gonna go for it this summer and see what's out there in free agency. If not, maybe sign and trade, or trades. We just have to wait and see. So what we have to do now is just let it all hang out in the last three weeks or so, see if we make the push to the playoffs, and if not, we'll see what we've got going through the Draft, and then July will be a big month for us. NBA.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki 

Me: Are you a recruiter now? DN: I'm obviously gonna be here most of the summer. If they need me to go somewhere or call somebody, I'll obviously be more than happy to. This is my home. Once you've won it all, you want that feeling again. You don't want to be out of the playoffs looking in. We'd love to have that feeling again. The city was so excited. The franchise was. We'd love to at least play for that again. It's a big summer for us, and anything I can do, I'll be here. NBA.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki 

Me: What offensive adjustments has Rick made this year? Dirk Nowitzki: I think honestly, he's been hard on (Darren) Collison and (O.J.) Mayo all year. He's challenged them to be better decision-makers on pick and rolls, on the fastbreak. I think both of them have made tremendous strides from earlier in the season. I think with Coach (Jim) O'Brien implementing his offense, we're playing a lot more movement. We're one of the fastest-paced teams in the league. I think we were number one for a while; I'm not sure if we still are. But we really like to push it now with our guards. If we don't have the break, we like to move it. Five guys touching it, swing it, pick and roll. If it's nothing on the first side, move it, get another pick and roll. It's a fun way to play. Everybody's sharing it, less pounding, less iso. We all know that at the end of the game, when the game slows down, there will be some pick and rolls and some isos. But in the course of the game we're trying to keep the pace up and it's been working for us. NBA.com

Dallas Mavericks, OJ Mayo, Darren Collison, Dirk Nowitzki, Rick Carlisle