 The 2006 – 07 season was the year Nowitzki was named the league's Most Valuable Player. He shot a career-best 50.2 % from the field, and recorded averages of 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 3.4 assists and led the Mavericks to a franchise-high 67 wins, which meant Dallas earned the first seed of the 2007 NBA Playoffs. He averaged 50 % from the field, 40 % for three pointers, and 90 % from the free throw line becoming, at the time, only the fourth player in NBA history to join the 50 – 40 – 90 club. Nowitzki was touted as the overwhelming favorite for the Most Valuable Player award, and was expected to lead the Mavericks to an easy win against the eighth-seed Golden State Warriors, despite the Warriors having won all three regular-season meetings against Dallas. However, the Mavericks ended up losing to the Warriors in six games, marking the first time a # 8 seed had beaten the # 1 in a best-of-seven series in NBA history. In the clinching Game 6, Nowitzki shot just 2 – 13 from the field for only eight points. Defended by Stephen Jackson, Nowitzki averaged nearly five points less than his regular-season average in that series and shot 38.3 % from the field as compared to 50.2 % during the regular season. He described that loss as a low point in his career: "This series, I couldn't put my stamp on it the way I wanted to. That's why I'm very disappointed." In spite of this historic playoffs loss, Nowitzki was named the NBA's regular-season Most Valuable Player and beat his friend and back-to-back NBA MVP Nash with more than 100 votes. He also became the first European player in NBA history to receive the honor.
