BOSTON -- In more than two decades of creating memories both good and bad, Dirk Nowitzki never had a night like Friday.
In many, many ways.
He had a whole arena not named American Airlines Center pulling for him. He just couldn't give the Boston fans what they wanted.
Nowitzki played 16 minutes, put up 10 jump shots and missed them all. That had never happened in his career.
And yet it was one of the most celebratory nights he's had in a while.
The Mavericks got trounced 114-93 by the Celtics, but that's not what mattered.