In most cases, you'd expect a player to celebrate a moment like this one by soaking in the moment on the court. However, an emotional Nowitzki declined a public celebration and ran off the court to gather his thoughts in the locker room with still 1.2 seconds showing on the clock. It was a very touching moment that the ABC TV crew was lucky enough to capture in the video above.
After the game, Dirk explained his walk off the court in an interview with ESPN's Hannah Storm:
"I had to get a moment. I was crying a bit. I was a little emotional. … I actually didn't want to come out for the trophy, but the guys talked me into it."
It would've been interesting to see David Stern present the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player trophy to an absent Dirk, so it's probably a good thing that he ended up coming back out. Plus, while Nowitzki didn't have a stellar game on Sunday (21 points on 9-of-27 shooting from the floor), this championship was his moment at the top. Dirk is Dallas's best and most talked about player, and he deserves all the praise that will come his way after this accomplishment.
