Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki Passes John Havlicek for 12th Place on NBA Scoring List
With 31 points in Wednesday's 108-101 win over the Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki moved past John Havlicek to take sole possession of 12th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
Heading into Wednesday's game, Nowitzki and the former Boston Celtic were tied at 26,395 career points apiece, following a disappointing 12-point outing from the German 7-footer on Tuesday.
Expected to pass Havlicek in Tuesday's contest versus the Golden State Warriors, Nowitzki was instead held to his fourth-lowest scoring total of the season in an ugly 108-85 loss. He made just four of his 11 field-goal attempts in a difficult matchup, against a Golden State team that ranks third in the NBA with just 99.3 points allowed per 100 possessions this season.
Nowitzki unsurprisingly found things more to his liking Wednesday night, facing a Jazz team that has surrendered an NBA-worst 108 points per 100 possessions this season. The Mavericks star made 12 of his 14 field-goal attempts Wednesday, including all four of his shots from beyond the arc.
Now that Havlicek is in his rear-view mirror, Nowitzki can set his sights on 11th-place Dominique Wilkins (26,668 career points) and 10th-place Oscar Robertson (26,710).
The Mavericks have 16 games remaining, and Nowitzki needs 243 points to pass Wilkins and 285 points to pass Robertson. Assuming he doesn't miss any games, the German sharpshooter can capture 11th place with 15.2 points per game, while he'll need to average 17.9 for 10th place.
Given that he's produced 21.5 points per game this season, Nowitzki should be a top-10 all-time scorer within a matter of weeks.
