Ohlbrecht celebrates his nba debut – nowitzki is frustrated

Ohlbrecht, meanwhile, happily signed autographs following his NBA debut. After watching his new teammates from the bench for two games, the 24-year-old center finally got to play for the first time on sunday.

5:37 minutes before the end of the game, rockets coach kevin mchale waved the wuppertal native over and sent him out on the floor a little later – the dream of the best basketball league in the world had finally come true for ohlbrecht. The 84-time national player was the eighth german basket player to play in the NBA and scored his first points right away. 38.9 seconds before the end he converted his second throwing attempt. Because he was fouled in the process, he was also allowed to go to the free-throw line as a bonus and made the final score from there. In addition, he recorded an assist and a steal.

"I will give my all in training and then when i get my chance, i have to be on fire," ohlbrecht had already said earlier. Against dallas he took his chance, the 5:37 minutes should not be his last in the nba. "It was good to leave germany and make a new start here."

Nowitzki watched the first successes of his national team colleague with a frown from the bench. The 34-year-old wore himself out for three quarters, but couldn’t prevent the mavs’ third-quarter collapse either. With 17:44 (!) the 2011 nba champion conceded the section and thus not only lost the explosive texas duel, but probably also the last hopes of a playoff participation.

"That was just embarrassing," nowitzki commented on his team’s disastrous performance. Because dallas coach rick carlisle no longer believed in a turnaround and nowitzki spent the entire last quarter on the bench, there was no direct clash between nowitzki and ohlbrecht. Also the 2008 eingeburgte center chris kaman sab most of the time drauben.

Last time had on 9. January 1989 three NBA basketball pros with german passports stood on the floor. 24 years ago christian welp won with the philadelphia 76ers against detlef schrempf and uwe blab at the dallas mavericks.

Wednesday is the next chance for a repeat performance, when ohlbrecht and the rockets take on nowitzki and kaman in dallas. For the mavericks, it’s really all about honor. Their current condition is too bad for them to be considered a serious candidate for the playoffs.

"If we can’t score on offense, we’ve got to at least keep our zone clean," chided nowitzki, who also deflated with eight points and only two of eight made shots from the field. In his frustration, the wurzburger also conceded a technical foul. The only bright spot for him was the reunion with ohlbrecht, whom he hugged after the game and congratulated on his promotion to NBA professional.