You gotta love Dirk Nowitzki. He and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 93-87 on Monday night. Nowitzki led all scorers with 29 points, but the Mavs were once again aided by the contributions of offseason pickup of Zaza Pachulia, who finished with a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) in 32 minutes as the starting center.
Pachulia has proven to be a big acquisition for Dallas (he’s averaging 10+ ppg and 10+ rpg, well above his career numbers) after the Mavs famously lost out on DeAndre Jordan this summer, and all they had to give up was a future second-round pick.
Dirk, for one, is pretty happy with Zaza—as he jokingly pointed out after the game on Sunday. From the Associated Press recap of last night’s game, via ESPN:
Zaza Pachulia continues to prove he wasn’t a bad consolation prize in the wake of last summer’s DeAndre Jordan saga. Acquired from Milwaukee for a future second-round pick, Pachulia had 13 points and 11 rebounds Sunday for his 19th double-double of the season. “We got him for a Gatorade cooler and he’s been phenomenal for us,” Nowitzki said.
– SLAM
