Dirk Nowitzki's recent return has been overshadowed by a string of disappointing losses by Dallas.
The Mavericks big man had his best game of the season as he scored 11 points in 11 minutes Friday, despite a 114-112 loss to the Pelicans, but said his stats alone can't carry the team.
"It doesn't matter who's playing well," Nowitzki said, via the Dallas Morning News. "We got to find a way to win some of those close games on the road, or it's going to be tough in April (when) we look back at a lot of ones that we shoulda, coulda won and we didn't."
Dallas has been disastrous on the road, losing eight straight away from American Airlines Center over the last month, and Nowitzki knows something has to change.
"Eventually, you got to be tired of sitting here saying: yeah, that was a great effort and we just came up a little short," Nowitzki said. "You can do that a couple times, but not basically all season. It's extremely tough. We just got to find a way to break through once — sometimes knock the wall down and cruise from there. But we got to find a way."
The 40-year-old made history earlier this month when he set the record for most seasons with a single team. He also remains the seventh-leading scorer in NBA history with 31,216 career points.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks (16-18) have lost seven of their last eight games but will look to change their tempo when they host the Thunder (22-12) at 7 p.m. ET Sunday.
