A Maverick made in heaven

HE held the trophy into the air, Dirk Nowitzki marching across the court pushing midnight now, pushing past his wildest dreams as a skinny, scared teenager arriving in the NBA all those years ago.

There were a couple hundred Dallas Mavericks fans still waiting for him in Section 105, and they all looked like proud parents, like they had witnessed a young man grow into a legend, a champion now.

Nowitzki held that Larry O’Brien Trophy higher now, like an offering to the basketball gods. In those big, meaty hands, it looked like he’d found a long lost friend.