MIAMI (AP) -- Dirk Nowitzki tries to avoid feelings of nostalgia.
That's impossible when he's in Miami.
For all the cities around the world where he's played, whether with the German national team or the Dallas Mavericks, the only place where Nowitzki celebrated the ultimate prize is Miami -- where he led the Mavs to the 2011 NBA championship , avenging a loss to the Heat five years earlier. So on Thursday, before playing in Miami for the 25th time, Nowitzki was understandably reflective.
"You definitely never forget," Nowitzki said, as he relaxed for a few minutes in a courtside seat across from the Heat bench. "You don't always want to live in the past. You kind of want to make it work now in the present, so I don't always think about that year, but coming here, walking in the hotel, walking in this building, it's tough to forget."
Nowitzki is under contract for next season, though no one seems sure if he'll play past this season. He turns 39 in June. He's probably just a few weeks away from reaching the 30,000-point mark. His place in the Basketball Hall of Fame was ensured long ago. And the Mavericks are in a rebuilding phase, making it fair to say that another title probably isn't in the immediate offing.
So it's possible that Thursday may be his Miami farewell.
Whenever he leaves the game, the Heat will tip their caps.
"At the highest level, in the biggest moments, he proved that he can be the best player in the world -- period," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "What else do you need to say? His game is timeless, too."
It's timeless, yet evolving. Nowitzki was probably more of a small forward when he broke into the NBA, became a power forward who changed the game with his combination of 7-foot height and guard-like shooting, and now plays a hybrid center role. The one-legged step-back jumper -- his signature move -- has been emulated by many, including Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James.
Nowitzki went to The Finals twice, both times against Miami, and the Heat still offer him what they call ultimate respect.
"You could say that Dirk Nowitzki, in his prime, forced longer and more coaching meetings around the league, or at least as much as any player in the league," Spoelstra said. "He was so unique. You had to have specific Nowitzki rules. The absolute best of the best require their own rulebook, and you had to design ways of defending that may not be consistent with your system but specific for him.
"Otherwise," Spoelstra continued, "you would run around in circles looking like idiots."
Much has changed since Nowitzki first played in Miami on April 7, 1999.
The Mavericks and the Heat both had different logos than they do now. Don Nelson was coaching Dallas, Pat Riley was still in his first of two stints coaching Miami. Vancouver and Seattle still had NBA teams. The Heat weren't even playing in AmericanAirlines Arena at that point -- they were at Miami Arena, which was demolished in 2008.
Nowitzki went scoreless in three minutes that night, and scoreless again three nights later against Golden State. He's failed to score only twice in 1,454 games since, the last of those coming in 2003.
"I used to be a tough matchup," Nowitzki said.
He won't say it, but he still is.
Age has slowed him, for sure. The skills and the know-how, that doesn't change.
"Hall of Famer," Heat forward Udonis Haslem said. "One of the best big men to play the game. He definitely changed the game. Hell of a competitor, a champion, somebody who I have a lot of respect for."
Haslem had the task of guarding Nowitzki in those Finals meetings.
"I really found out what I was made of as a competitor," Haslem said.
The Mavericks don't always stay in the same hotel when they visit Miami, but the one they got for this trip helped spark Nowitzki's trip down memory lane. They stayed there in 2006 during the Finals when they lost three games in Miami, and stayed there again in 2011 when they left Miami with the Larry O'Brien Trophy in tow.
All the memories, good and bad, started flooding back as Nowitzki walked through the lobby.
"You know, `06 will obviously never be out of my memory," Nowitzki said, "but `11 definitely made it sweeter."
