German national team coach Dirk Bauermann called criticism of Dirk Nowitzki for his performance in the NBA Finals as "not fair" and "completely ludicrous".

Discussing Germany's preparations for the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, Bauermann told PA Sport that he was shocked his star had been criticised by local Dallas newspapers for not playing up to par in the Mavericks' 4-2 series loss to the Miami Heat.

"It's beyond me," Bauermann said. "The guy's done so much for that team. He's taken the team and put them on his shoulders and took them to where they were - which was the NBA Finals. I'm very upset."

Nowitzki averaged 22.8 points and 10.8 rebounds in 43.7 minutes per game in the NBA Finals. He hit 39% (41 of 105) of his shots from the floor and was six of of 24 (25%) from three-point range.

Bauermann knows how important Nowitzki can be to a team after riding the NBA star to the silver medal at the 2005 EuroBasket, where Nowitzki won MVP honours.

"He plays every game and plays a lot of minutes. It's not fair. He gets help from one guy here or another guy another night. But he had to carry that team," Bauermann said.

"Criticising him is completely ludicrous."

Article courtesy of www.fiba.com