Dirk as the sixth man

Published Feb. 6, 2010 at 2:00 a.m.

It hasn't happened in a long, long time. His rookie year, actually.

Dirk Nowitzki's last time to play and not start was 11 years ago, Feb. 14, 1999.

The Mavericks lost to San Antonio that day.

It's commendable that Rick Carlisle stuck to the rules and kept Nowitzki out of the starting lineup. Hopefully, he would have done the same thing if the Lakers had been in town instead of the Wolves.

By the way, Nowitzki had started 817 games in which he had played, the second longest streak in the league behind Boston's Kevin Garnett.

--Eddie Sefko

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