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18 years after his debut, Dirk Nowitzki remembers his first game (and how poorly he played) like it was yesterday

DENVER - It was 18 years ago today that Dirk Nowitzki became an NBA player. But Feb. 5, 1999 won't go down as one of his highlights.

"That wasn't a good night for me," Nowitzki said Sunday. "I still remember it as one of my worst games."

Clearly, it was just a blip on the huge canvas that has become a hall of fame career and included nearly 30,000 points.

So what if only two of them came on that first night, when he hit two free throws and missed all five of his shots.

To which he joked: "My teammates didn't find me in the right spots.