Amidst the reactions to Kobe Bryant’s 81 points against Toronto last night, ESPN’s Ric Bucher dragged this one out of Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki.

Someone asked Dirk Nowitzki (above, right) if he could top 82. “I don’t think that would be good from a team standpoint,” Nowitzki said.

Jerry Stackhouse finished buttoning his shirt and shook his head in pure admiration. “You’d think the Super Bowl would lead ‘SportsCenter’ tonight,” he said. “But you know it won’t. It can’t. Kobe will. He has to.”

Please, no one tell Stackhouse that the Super Bowl wasn’t played yesterday. And Dirk deserves credit for not saying something like, “If I had Devon George for a teammate, you’d have to pry the ball from my cold, dead hands, too.”