The sellout TD Garden crowd really, really wanted — like, really, really wanted — forward Dirk Nowitzki to score during Friday night’s Celtics-Mavericks game.
Despite their buoyant “Dirk! Dirk! Dirk!” and “Let’s go Dirk” chants, the 18,624 fans in attendance couldn’t will Nowitzki to make a basket. Nowitzki, who logged a season-high 16 minutes, had 10 opportunities to knock down a bucket but didn’t connect on any of his attempts — not even the last-ditch three-pointer as the game clock expired. Had he scored, Nowitzki would have passed retired Lakers guard Kobe Bryant for most points scored at the Garden by a Western Conference player.