In the NBA world, every city, every team has its own iconic figure. The fastest update to mention the Los Angeles Lakers, you'll be the first to think of Kobe. Bryant. When it comes to the Miami Heat, Wade's name is sure to be the first to pop through your mind. And for Dallas and the Mavericks, Dirk. Nowitzki is that unique being.

Often, these iconic figures have a strong presence in the city. Even if Kobe Bryant just had the flu, it might have made fans all over Los Angeles nervous. And Nowitzki's comeback today has touched the hearts of all Mavericks fans.

The Memphis Grizzlies, with a current record of 18-21, are temporarily in tenth place in the West. In the second game after the start of the new season, the Mavericks and Grizzlies have played each other. And that game just became a stepping stone for the Mavericks' first winning streak.

It stands to reason that there is no spark between the Mavericks at the forefront of the league and the Grizzlies who are performing inconsistently, and there is a clear gap in strength between the two teams, which is by no means a focus battle.

But when this competition is given a different meaning, the situation is completely different.

Tickets for the tournament have long been sold out, let alone buying them on the day, even if they come two days in advance, there are no tickets. When the Mavericks officially announced that Nowitzki would return on January 15, all Mavericks fans bought tickets and looked forward to the German's comeback performance.

For Mavericks fans, it doesn't matter who their opponent is in this game. As long as you can see Dirk come back, play in good form and win the game, it's all worth it.

So when Reggie. Miller and Kevin. When Harlan sat down in the commentary seat, they were all stunned by the crowd in front of them. How about Dallas being a big market? A comeback battle for Dirk can keep the entire U.S. Route Center Arena in the airline.

Meanwhile, in the team's dressing room, the players are ready for the game and are waiting for Carlisle to let them warm up.

For this Grizzly team, Carlisle has always emphasized patience. The Grizzlies are very tightly defended, but no matter how tight the defense is, as long as you are patient and search, you can also find gaps. Didn't the Mavericks win once in the first place?

While Carlisle was writing and drawing on the tactical board, Terry also elbowed the German beside him.

"How does it feel to be back in the ring?"

"Awesome Jett! I can't wait to do it! Nowitzki smiled confidently, and after more than half a month away from the field, the "German tank" was ready to open fire.

Three minutes later, when Nowitzki trotted out of the tunnel and warmed up, fans across the American Route arena were in a state of flux.

Before the game started, the atmosphere of the scene had already entered the first **.

It seems that people don't seem to take the intrusive grizzly bear seriously. It's as if there is no suspense about the outcome of the game, and people are all watching how the Germans lead the Mavericks to victory.

Mavericks fans are understandably in this way, and before the injury, Nowitzki was already in excellent form. Recently, Yiyang's huge improvement on the court has made Mavericks fans ecstatic.

Without Nowitzki, Yiyang can lead the team to victory over the Trail Blazers, Magic and Pacers. So what does a Memphis Grizzly Bear count as when these two guys are on the scene at the same time?

But when the game started, the Mavericks' performance surprised everyone.

"Dirk is on the left side of the basket and he's very skilful with his three-threat pace. Randolph did not dare to act rashly. Also has gotten rid of Mike. Conley ran out of position, but we saw that Dirk wasn't going to pass, maybe this guy was fighting him! Shot! The Germans pulled up the shot directly! Oops, still missed, Dirk's first three shots were all missed, and the Grizzlies got another chance! ”

In Reggie. Miller's sigh, the Mavericks' offense ended in failure again, Randolph's defense was in place, but Nowitzki's poor hand after returning from injury was the biggest reason for the Mavericks' poor offense.

After the Grizzlies counterattacked, Rudy. Guy used his strong body to lean on Marion to force a breakthrough to complete the attack and successfully score. With only six minutes into the first quarter, the Mavericks trailed the Grizzlies by a full seven points.

'It seems that Dirk was in very bad form today and he doesn't seem to have found his rhythm yet when he has returned from injury. It's no surprise that the Germans were unlucky to meet a team like the Grizzlies who are known for their defense in the first game of their comeback. Kevin. Harlan shook his head, if Nowitzki's hand can't be recovered, then the dream of Mavericks fans may be shattered.

Sometimes, the state of the players is like waiting for the bus. The more you try to wait for a certain bus, the more it won't come. And the more Nowitzki tries to get his touch back quickly, the worse his form becomes!

The way for a star to regain his touch on the court is simple, and that is to shoot more! Two minutes later, Yiyang borrowed Chandler's cover to get inside, and the Grizzlies' defense immediately shrunk entirely. After all, in the past 4 games, Yiyang has averaged 24.5 points per game, which is not an ordinary statistic.

Seeing that he had successfully attracted the Grizzlies' defense, Yiyang repeated his old trick and used a pass-through from the back that didn't look at people, sending the "cannonball" to the "German cannon".

Nowitzki made an empty three-point shot, and in the stands, most Mavericks fans were ready to cheer.

However, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. The basketball spun around twice in the frame, but eventually came out of the frame. Gasol Jr. steadily defended the defensive rebound, which meant that the Mavericks' offense ended in failure again.

"Damn it!" After the missed shot, even Nowitzki himself cursed in a low voice, not blaming others, but dissatisfied with his performance today.

Fans are still waiting, waiting for Nowitzki's heroic return. By the end of the first quarter, the Mavericks were already trailing 19-31. The fans did not give up and still believed that the Germans could save the team.

In the second quarter of the game, Nowitzki continued to decline, shooting 0 of 2 from three-point range. If it weren't for Yiyang's excellent performance and the Grizzlies' offense suddenly dropped the chain, the score might have been pulled apart again.

The fans are still waiting, and there won't be a full half left in the game.

In the third quarter, Nowitzki's shooting percentage became 50 percent, but that was because he only tried to shoot twice in the third quarter. Obviously, Nowitzki didn't want to drag the team back, he knew that he couldn't get his form back today, so this guy simply handed over the offensive banner to Yiyang, and he reduced the number of shots.

Yiyang's performance is really good, his breakthroughs have repeatedly deflated the Grizzlies' defense, and it can be said that this tanhua show has lived up to the expectations of the Germans. But the rest of the Mavericks seem to have been infected by Nowitzki's poor form. Except for Yiyang today, the Mavericks don't have a second consistent scoring point that can stand up. This Maverick, which blooms a little more on weekdays, doesn't look like the same team at all.

By the halfway point of the fourth quarter, fans had lost any expectations. The game, which was over-ticketed, ended with fans leaving the stadium early in disappointment.

Because garbage time was already in the middle of the four minutes before the end of the game. At this moment, only Yiyang scored a double-double on the Mavericks, and the difference was widened to 24 points by the Grizzlies.

"Oh, there's not a lot of people left in the U.S. Route Center now, maybe not even half. To be honest Kevin, I didn't expect this to end like this. "Reggie. Miller looked at the empty stands in front of him, a stark contrast to the pre-game excitement.

"As the only player in this game for the Mavericks, Dirk's form is very worrying, and hopefully the German can recover quickly."

Thereafter, Reggie. Miller and Kevin. The two of them started talking about some of the more interesting things in the league, because there was not much more to say about this game that went into garbage time.

In the end, Yiyang scored the second-highest 22 points in the game after Randolph, but only had 5 assists. Although Yiyang still sent a lot of wonderful passes, his teammates failed to score the ball. This is also the reason why Yiyang has few assists today.

And the Mavericks, who performed poorly, also lost the game that was supposed to be won "on the script" with a humiliating score of 71-89 at home.

He scored only 71 points in four quarters, which is very rare for an NBA-caliber team. After all, today, except for Yiyang, including Nowitzki, everyone in the Mavericks has scored in single digits.

Nowitzki scored just seven points on his comeback and shot just 25 percent from the field. There is no doubt that this is not the result that Carlisle and the fans imagined.

Say that the dark days are over, and the bright light is coming? The gap between ideals and reality seems to be too great. It's so big that it's even a little hard to accept.

In the post-game press conference, Nowitzki took all the blame for the loss on his own head and kept a low profile in front of the victorious Grizzlies.

After five minutes of indiscriminate bombardment by reporters, the press conference finally ended. Just as Nowitzki was about to get up and leave, the reporter below suddenly stood up.

"What are the odds of the Mavericks winning the next game against the Los Angeles Lakers?" This reporter's question can also be asked in a different way. "How many points will the Mavericks lose in the next game against the Los Angeles Lakers."

"We can only do our best." Nowitzki looked at the unfamiliar reporter and knew that the other party was deliberately finding fault. He ignored the flickering camera and walked straight out of the media reception room.

Nowitzki was naturally unhappy in his heart, looking at the reporter's ill-intentioned smiling face, he was so angry in his heart. With the whole world waiting for his comeback, Nowitzki has now become the joke of the whole world as well.

But if they lose so badly against the Grizzlies, it will be against the Los Angeles Lakers......

Dirk pushed open the locker room door, but just happened to bump into Yiyang rushing out with a basketball.

"Why are you going?" Nowitzki asked.

"Shoot threes." Yiyang calmly replied that although Yiyang was not to blame for losing this game, his performance in 3 shots 0 from outside the three-point line made this No. 1 haunt him.

Nowitzki froze for a second, then grabbed a basketball from the locker room and followed.

"In the next game, I don't want to lose again." Walking up to Yiyang, Nowitzki spoke to himself.

"I don't want to, I hate failure." Yiyang frowned, after the loss, he didn't blame anyone, but blamed himself for not performing perfectly enough.

Carlisle clasped his hands around his chest and looked at the two short backs of the one walking towards the training ground.

In the long regular season, there are some defeats that can be just the right time for the players to sound the alarm bells.

This game, perhaps, was lost at the right time?

Los Angeles Lakers? Carlisle sighed. Light, I'm afraid, won't come so soon.