But I don't buy into the notion that news of the arrest of a woman at Nowitzki's house is going to be a huge distraction either for the 7-footer or his teammates.

The subsequent reports that she is or had been engaged to Nowitzki and that a private investigator determined that Cristal Taylor had at least eight aliases is a strange tale but should not affect the series.

Athletes always say that when they have off-the-field or off-the-court troubles, the game is the one place where they can find solace, where they can elevate their energy level, put stresses aside and just play the game that they play so well.

Think back to Michael Jordan's days and tabloid pictures of his late night gambling forays to Atlantic City. He always said the Basketball court was the one place he could find peace.

Questionable off-court behavior didn't prevent Jordan from piling up championships.

I'm not saying there's a championship in the Mavericks' immediate future, just that whatever they were capable of doing against Denver before this story broke remains in place.

But this is probably a bad time to have all these extra days off, all this down time while the story of the woman's arrest and history of other arrests is all over the news.

I was told by one person close to the situation that the woman already had moved out of Nowitzki's house. So maybe whatever role she played in Nowitzki's life - girlfriend, fianc?e- is now behind him, and he is able to just go forward.

That doesn't mean he hasn't had to deal with some stress created by the situation.

"It's pretty obvious that I'm going through a tough time in my personal life right now," Nowitzki said at the Mavericks' practice court Thursday. "Like I always have, I want to keep my private life private."

Nowitzki has been pretty good about doing that during his 11-year career in Dallas. And I'm not aware of any real trouble he has ever gotten in, unless you count pictures of him having a drink or two taken on camera phones.

And I'm pretty much hoping those don't count.

But this is not the first time a person he was close to ran into trouble.

Holger Geschwindner has been Nowitzki's personal coach since he was 15 years old. He helped develop Nowitzki's skills, which are so unique to a 7-footer. Nowitzki has referred to him as his "second father."

Well, Dad No. 2 got into a little trouble in the summer of 2005 and was forced to spend five weeks in a German jail cell because of tax evasion after failing to report income he had made off of Nowitzki.

And when Geschwindner finally settled with the German government, it is believed that it cost Nowitzki a significant amount to settle.

I don't know what this latest strange tale is going to cost him other than some stress, some personal angst. But I don't see any reason it has to cost him anything on the Basketball court, at least not here for Games 3 and 4.

Now if fans on the road start getting on him the way they did three years ago when he said he sings David Hasselhoff songs when he's at the free-throw line, that could be a problem.

You would like to think that sports fans would leave a personal issue as sensitive as this one must be to Nowitzki alone.

Most will. A few won't.

You just hope that a player as physically strong as Nowitzki will find the mental strength he needs at a time like this to move on and put it behind him.

More coverage

-Multiple Mavericks sources said team officials cautioned Nowitzki about his relationship with Cristal Taylor, 1A

-Birdman captures Denver's fancy, 4C

WATCH VIDEO of Dirk Nowitzki answering questions Thursday, and see Nowitzki spending time at home with Cristal Taylor. dallasnews.com/sports