C-Webb On Dirk: Webber's Dubious Qualifications

Who Produces In 'Big Games'? (Hint: It's Not The One Who Talks Like It)

Mike Fisher -- DB.com

   Let me take a poll: Do you want to hear some good Nowitzki news? Would you like it to be basketball-related? How about if it was so good that it might even serve as a pleasant surprise to Dirk himself? And how about if, as a bonus, it was all a kick to the crotch of a certain mindless Dirk Detractor named Chris Webber?

    I see. You answered “yes,’’ “yes,’’ “yes’’ and “yes.’’

    Here goes: Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki has a decade-long knack for producing playoff numbers so gargantuan that a postseason gag artist like C-Webb ought to only be allowed to mention The UberMan’s name if he promises to genuflect afterwards.

   "I'm going to keep trying to do what I've been doing all season long, and that's if I see single coverage, try to score," Dirk said. "At this point where I'm at in my career, I think I'm a better all-around player than I've ever been in my life, but ... the best thing I can do in a game is score. I'm going to keep trying to score.

    What’d he say? That at this point in his career he’s “a better all-around player than I’ve ever been in my life’’?

    That’s confidence – without the narcissism Barkley and Webber were demanding.

    So how does Dirk kick Webber in the crotch over all this? He doesn’t.

    But his numbers do.

    We’ve done a bit of research to compare some postseason stats between Dirk Nowitzki and the man who would dare tell him how to succeed in a big way in a big situation, Chris Webber.

    Let’s use, as a measuring stick, Dirk’s 35/9 performance in Game 2.

    How many times in Dirk’s playoff career has he produced at a level in that range?

    We find 11 occasions when Nowitzki went off the charts:

    5/14/01 @ Sas                42/18          L

    4/28/02 @ Min               39/17         W

    4/19/03 vs Por                46/10         W

    4/25/03 @ Por                42/10         W

    4/30/03 vs Por                35/10         L

    5/19/03 @ Sas                38/15         L

    5/18/05 @ Pho               34/10         L

    4/29/06 vs Mem             36/9           W

    5/22/06 @ Sas                37/15         W

    6/1/06 vs Pho                 50/12         W

    5/5/09 @ Den                 35/9           L

     Not bad, Dirk. Eleven times in your career you've gone nuts statistically in a playoff game, with 35/9 or better …. All the way up to 39/17, to 42/18 and to 50/12! (And you've got the coconuts to often do it on the road.)

     And during Chris Webber’s otherwise illustrious career (illustrious enough, anyway, for him to earn a paycheck from TNT to prop himself up as an expert on such things and as an expert on Dirk’s alleged failings as a “big-time scorer’’), how many times did C-Webb offer up a 35/9, or even anything in that range?

     Once. 

      5/6/01 @ Lal                   34/8            L

     Once.

     Dirk is an imperfect player and an imperfect person. In those areas, he is not unlike Chris Webber … and the rest of us. But as fine a career as Webber had, he’s not in Dirk’s class.

    Webber’s stats and stuff  vs. Dirk’s stats and stuff?

    *Webber played for 15 seasons and missed five years worth of games during those seasons due to injury. Dirk? In the last decade, he’s missed an average of 2.8 games a year. (So who's tough?)

    *Webber had big assist games (he was a terrific passer) and he was a five-time All-Star but he shied away from some big moments and choked away other big moments. Dirk is an eight-time (and counting) All-Star and he may be too deferential … but he ain’t scared.

    *Webber was the best college player on the planet (and also the best-paid?) but again and again didn’t win a title. And despite playing on excellent Kings teams, he never led them to the NBA Finals as a pro. Dirk has been the best player on a Finals team and he’s been the best player in the league.

    * Webber’s “big-game’’ stats from his 80 playoff appearances are 18 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists. Dirk’s numbers in 94 playoff games are 25.1 points, 11 rebounds and 2.5 assists. And as we've noted before, those numbers are matched by only four other men in NBA history. (You might recognize 'em: Shaq, Olajuwon, Baylor and Petit.)

    *Webber’s regular-season scoring total is 20.7 per. Not bad. Except that means his production in the playoffs went down. Dirk’s regular-season scoring total is 22.7 per. That’s right: Dirk is more productive, more clutch and more big-game in the postseason than the MVP is during the regular season. And of course, more productive than C-Webb across the board.

    C-Webb vs. Dirk? It’s raisins vs. coconuts.

    And Webber's TNT contribution was akin to DeNiro getting acting tips from Van Damme.

    Was C-Webb EVER better than Dirk? Yes, once. And it's funny I would mention movies, because in "Like Mike,'' Dirk and C-Webb made cameos. And I thought Webber was more "method.''

    So yeah. C-Webb was better than Dirk.

    Once.

   For a guy who spent an entire evening on TV popping off about another player’s lack of “whatever it takes to be a great scorer/great player,’’ Chris Webber seems spectacularly under-qualified. And OK, maybe “genuflection’’ is asking a little much. But how about simple “reflection’’? How about perspective, thinking before you speak, understanding one’s place in the cosmos?

    Because Dirk can be counted on to do things on the playoff court at least once every postseason that C-Webb could be counted on to do … once a career.