It was not quite what Dallas Mavericks fans wanted, but it is a nice consolation prize. The Mavs will be missing the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, but at least they finally made it to .500 so Dirk Nowitzki could shave away his "loser’s beard."
Several Mavericks players made a pact in December not to shave until they made it to an even record, and luckily for them they did it with two games left in the season. I am not sure what would have happened if the team failed to make it back to .500, but luckily we will not have to find out.
Nowitzki must have been ready to lose the extra facial hair because as soon as the game was over, he bolted for the locker room, grabbed a razor and got to work. He showed up for his postgame interview clean-shaven and looking much younger.
Obviously losing the beard was the most important thing that happened to Dirk last night, but he also became just the 21st NBA/ABA player of all time to reach 25,000 points. If you scroll down the list of the other 20, they are all in the Hall of Fame or going to be in the Hall of Fame soon.
So congratulations are in order for Dirk Nowitzki, who reached an extremely impressive basketball milestone and can celebrate by finally being able to kiss his wife again.
