1/8 Final: Argentina vs Brazil

[Miggity23]

I went through some stats yesterday to look for the last player who sustained a 30+ ppg in a major tournament (World Championship, Eurobasket, Olympic Games). The closes Nowitzki came was in 2005 with 26+ ppg.

That's good research, but there is no stat line in the world that will convince me Nowitzki is anything more than a glory-boy. Obviously Dirk has a supreme skill set and can shoot the lights out. However I've watched him, for about a decade now, fall short continuously in big games. Dirk is the poster boy for what Americans view as a "soft euro". Pao Gasol was butchered for being "soft" after the '08 NBA finals when he pretty much spent the entire series as the butt of the Celtics highlight reel. How did he respond? He lead Spain to a silver medal at the Olympics and won 2 straight NBA titles, out-playing Garnett, Stoudemire, Howard and Rasheed(granted Rasheed was on his way to retirement) in the process. Now a days nobody is calling Pao soft, in fact he's the most respected European in the NBA right now. Which brings me back to Dirk. How has he responded to his earned reputation? By pumping in big numbers in those throw away NBA regular season games (which everyone on this forum was complaining about being passionless) and then getting punked in playoffs while leading his team to early exits every season.

I'd take Scola over Dirk any day of the week.