Tears of a crown: Dirk Nowitzki rejoices

On the night he finally found vengeance, eternal validation and the highest measure of victory to wag in the face of anyone who had ever called him soft or mocked his cough, Dirk Nowitzki wasn't going to let the world see his tears.

So he left the scene of his greatest triumph before a single teammate or coach could grab him for a hug, faster than he's ever hurdled a scorer's table to bolt off the floor, all to sneak back to the visitors' locker room.

To cry alone.

"I could already feel the tears coming," Nowitzki said in an AmericanAirlines Arena hallway, beaming now as he explained the mad dash at the final buzzer that superseded any urge he felt to dance on the court inside this house of old horrors ... or to stick around and find out how it feels to get a congratulatory man-hug from Dwyane Wade.

"I had to recover, bro."

The Dallas Mavericks had to drag Nowitzki back to the podium of champions Sunday night, so he could hoist the two trophies of his dreams, all because he didn't want anyone to see him like this, whether they were in the building or watching on TV. He admittedly "cried like a baby" back in 2008 upon clinching Germany's qualification for the Olympics for the first time in his career, but Nowitzki confessed that he was literally shaking with shock in the immediate aftermath of the Mavs' 105-95 dismantling of the Miami Heat to win the 2011 NBA Finals.

"We're world champions," Nowitzki eventually said once he made it to the interview room, with his Finals MVP trophy and a champagne bottle in tow.

"It sounds unbelievable."

Said Nowitzki: "It was weird. In the first half, I had so many good looks. I can't even explain it. I had some 3s top of the key. I had a wide-open 3 in the corner. I had some pull-ups. I had some one-legged fadeaways that I normally make.

Speaking specifically about the unheralded Mavs who bailed him out, Nowitzki said: "I just think this is a win [for] team basketball. This is a win for playing as a team on both ends of the floor, [for] sharing the ball, [for] passing the ball. ... I'm happy. We never looked at ourselves as soft. Not for one minute."

"Our guys took it personally tonight," Carlisle said. "They were not going to be denied. Dirk and [Terry] have had to live for five years with what happened in 2006. And as of tonight those demons are officially destroyed."

Said Wade: "I think he's played awesome, man. Obviously Dirk, [what happened] five years ago, it burned in him. He learned from that experience. ... Now that he's a champion; it goes without saying [what it means] for his career."

"The year he won MVP [in 2007]," Terry said, "doesn't even compare to what he did this year in the postseason."

It's the "first time where the true alpha dog" on a championship team, as Nelson so colorfully described it, came from Europe. From a little town in Bavaria called Wurzburg.

"Dirk gets Executive of the Year, Coach of the Year, Man of the Year," Nelson said when asked if he ever dared to envision Nowitzki's seemingly ho-hum, unambitious decision to re-sign in Dallas last summer trumping Pat Riley's historic swoop of James and Dallas native Chris Bosh to flank D-Wade on South Beach.

"He makes us all look smart."

"Nobody can ever take this away from me," Dirk said with eyes wide and dried. "So that's really the best thing about this."