Earlier this season, at Miami, he dribbled hard down the right side of the court. He slowed a bit and shuffled his feet as he neared the three-point line on the right wing.

He pulled up, leaning forward as he hung in the air, and drilled it like it was nothing. The net hardly moved.

It wasn’t Reggie Miller or Ray Allen. It wasn’t Michael Redd or Wally Szczerbiak. It was Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas’ 7-foot marksman.

“I don’t think there’s ever been anybody his size who can shoot as well as he does,” said Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, Nowitzki’s good friend and former teammate. “There might have been guys who can shoot as good standing still. But not with range, not off the dribble, not fading away, not stepping back, not up-and-under, not turnarounds.”

Traditionally, basketball’s big men have been told not to shoot unless they’re close to the basket. They’ve been told not to dribble, but to wait for the guard to come get the ball.

Nowitzki obviously didn’t get that e-mail.

He’s as aggressive offensively as any guard. He can lead the fastbreak or finish it. He can create off the dribble in a half-court set. He can shoot from anywhere on the floor.

“I guarded him every single day in practice,” said Warriors forward Eduardo Najera, who played the previous four seasons with Dallas. “You just can’t let him catch the ball. That’s the only way. … It’s a positive thing that Steve Nash left. It puts the ball in his hands a lot more. Now everything is going through him. He’s responding. He’s creating. He’s playing to his potential.”

Nowitzki has nine games with 30-plus points. He had 12 all of last season.