Dallas Morning News Outtakes: Tommy Noel captures Dirk Nowitzki's last home game

Editor's note: Each week, the visual journalists of The Dallas Morning News capture thousands of images, and we are able to publish only a fraction. Every Friday in a series called Outtakes, they will share photos and videos from the previous week that may have fallen on the cutting-room floor, and the stories behind them. — Marcia L. Allert, director of photography

Tuesday was one of those days I thought, “I can’t believe I’m paid to do this.”

I was assigned to shoot video of Dirk Nowitzki’s final home game at American Airlines Center. However, we didn’t know it was his last home game until Nowitzki made the announcement late Tuesday night. The schedule of events was kept under wraps, so members of the media just had to go with the flow.

My day started around 4 p.m., when I caught video of Nowitzki walking from the team bus to the locker room. No. 41 was impressed with all the cameras and reporters and said the walk felt reminiscent of an NBA Finals game.

My camera then led me to an empty AAC, where a sea of Dirk masks patiently waited on each fan’s seat, along with a 41.21.1 shirt and commemorative ticket.

As fans started walking in, the emotions began. (Again, we didn't know Nowitzki would be announcing his retirement at this point.) Tribute videos ran during timeouts and other breaks in the game. In fact, Nowitzki was overcome with emotion after a piece voiced by SportsDay's Brad Townsend ran that discussed the ball player's involvement at children's hospitals.

Every time Nowitzki scored, the crowd cheered as if it was a game-winning goal. Random chants of “One more year!” and “Dirk!” echoed throughout the arena. When Nowitzki was on the sidelines, the crowd chanted, “We want Dirk!”

When the game ended, nobody left their seats. (Forget the whole, “Let’s beat the traffic!” mentality.) A "special postgame presentation" was teased throughout the night, but fans didn’t expect Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Shawn Kemp, and Detlef Schrempf to walk out and surprise Nowitzki.

The one kink of the night: the TV networks and we photographers and videographers had to adjust last minute as the subjects in the ceremony had their backs to us. The plan was for everyone to face the TV cameras, but that didn’t happen. After Nowitzki made his announcement, I made the split-second decision to pan up and shoot video of the Jumbotron. (Which you’ll see in the below video, along with other snippets from Tuesday night.)

Dirk held one last news conference in American Airlines Center, and we witnessed something that doesn’t often happen: applause from the media. Reporters and visual journalists gave Nowitzki a standing ovation as he walked out of the interview room.

It was early Wednesday morning before this highlight video was finished. And thanks to our Outtakes feature, I can share more video that didn't make the initial cut.

I got home close to 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, and even though I was exhausted, I had trouble falling asleep as I was too busy soaking in the night I just experienced.