Dallas Mavericks Dirk Nowitzki takes a shot against the Miami Heat during the NBA Finals game 1on May 31, 2011 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. AFP
MIAMI—The pain of a game-one loss in the NBA Finals was still lingering with Dirk Nowitzki at Wednesday’s Dallas Mavericks practice.
The German star scored 27 points on 7-of-18 shooting despite tearing a tendon in the middle finger on his left hand in Tuesday’s 92-84 loss to the Miami Heat in the opener of the best-of-seven championship series.
Nowitzki was injured late in the fourth quarter during a battle for the ball with Heat’s Chris Bosh and must now wear a splint on the finger for the remainder of the series.
Nowitzki said at Wednesday’s practice that the good thing is that the injury is on his non-shooting hand.
“I don’t think it’s going to be necessarily bothering me on the shot,” said Nowitzki, who was a perfect 12-of-12 from the free throw line.
“On the shot you only hold the ball with the left hand. It’s not like you do anything crazy with it.
It’s going to be other stuff — dribbling, passing, catching, swiping down, stuff like that.”
Nowitzki said he will start out wearing the splint and then try different protective pieces and tape as the injury begins to heal.
“I think we’re going to play around with some other stuff, try a splint from the back so I can feel the ball and not lose grip of the ball,” Nowitzki said.
“I’ll be OK. I’m really not worried. It’s not that sore so it should be OK.”
Nowitzki said he was trying to strip the ball from Bosh when he jammed the digit and got called for a foul.
“I felt I stripped him clean,” Nowitzki said. “I was talking to the referee about the play and the next thing you know I run on offense after two free throws and I’m looking down and my finger was bent. I couldn’t straighten it.
“It was a freakish play. I ran over to the sideline and showed our trainer. He knew right away what happened.”
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said he does not expect the injury to limit Nowitzki because this is the NBA Finals and he has seen him play hurt before.
“Dirk has played with a lot of injuries,” Carlisle said. “It’s one of the reasons he’s becoming a legendary player.
“Some of the things he’s gone through and some of the things he’s played with and how quickly he’s bounced back — he’s never going to be a guy to complain about those kinds of things.
“At this point, anything short of a compound fracture, you play. You have to kind of deal with the hand that’s dealt to you.”