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SACRAMENTO – Dirk Nowitzki took Kobe Bryant's 62-point eruption as an opportunity to point out the differences in basketball in the United States and in Europe.
The biggest discrepancy: the absence of the team game in America.
When asked if Bryant's huge game was, at the least, a good entertainment package for fans even though it came at the Mavericks' expense, Nowitzki said:
"I guess. That's what American sports are – a one-man show, I guess. Every time you look on TV, it's not Houston and LA, it's T-Mac [Tracy McGrady] and Kobe against each other."
That's not the case in Europe, the German-born Nowitzki said. While many soccer superstars are revered in Europe, basketball is known as a team game, not for its individual playmakers.
Recently, the German national team that Nowitzki led to a silver medal in the European Championships was named the sports team of the year in Germany, a rarity given the dominance of soccer there.
"In Europe, it's more of a five-on-five game," he said. "But I guess over here it's more a game of stars and a game of heroes. And Kobe put on a show."
Nowitzki's point is well taken. The NBA goes to great lengths to market its superstars more so than teams. Superstar jerseys sell quickly. Hats with team logos, not so well.
Nu vreau decat sa scoatem la iveala cat mai multe diferente si asemanari intre ce se joaca in America de Nord si ce se joaca in restul lumii.In prezent, trecut si de asemenea, tendintele pentru viitor.