Best duo from Dallas Mavericks history: Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry
Prior to the 2004-05 season, most Dallas Mavericks fans believed Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash would lead their favorite team to a championship. After all, those two basically rehabilitated the toxic waste dump that was the Mavs franchise, even reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2003, so the unusually sunny optimism was more than justifiable.
However, that bright future dimmed a little bit when Nash left Dallas to rejoin the Phoenix Suns. Owner Mark Cuban’s reticence to hand a long-term deal to a man who he was concerned wouldn’t be able to walk after retirement opened the door for Nash to unlock his full array for Jedi point guard skills under Mike D’Antoni.
Of course, this meant that Dallas needed to find a new guard to fill the 6-foot-3, 195-pound hole in their lineup and lighten the scoring load for the ascending Nowitzki, who hadn’t evolved into his MVP form yet.
Fortunately for Dallas, they merely needed to sift through the scrap heap that was the Atlanta Hawks’ roster to find their next star backcourt player — Jason Terry.
While Terry never came close to matching Nash’s playmaking alchemy, he more than held up his end of the scoring requirement, averaging 16.1 points with a .462/.388/.847 shooting line in eight seasons in Dallas.
His speed and floor spacing made him an adroit pick-and-roll partner beside Nowitzki. Together, they kept the Mavs at or near the top of the Western Conference standings for most of the 2000s with their .184 WS/48, Terry’s Sixth Man of the Year Award win in 2008-09, Nowitzki winning the MVP in 2006-07, and the team upsetting the LeBron/Dwyane Wade/Chris Bosh Heat to win their first NBA title in 2011, cashing in on the hope that Nowitzki and Nash brought to this team a decade prior.