The Bledsoe Ultimate Ankle Brace is clearly visible beneath the sock on Nowitzki’s left ankle. The Ultimate Ankle allows him to perform, though he is suffering the result of a serious high ankle sprain.

Nowitzki On Winning Streak Thanks to Ultimate Ankle Brace

Closing in on the NBA playoffs, 2007 League MVP Dirk Nowitzki, power forward for the Dallas Mavericks, went down with a serious high ankle sprain that might have ended his season.

Dirk Nowitzki is not the kind of player you would want to lose entering the playoffs. Thanks to the Ultimate Ankle Brace by Bledsoe, he is still on the court.

Fitting Nowitzki was no easy task.  His ankle bone is fibrosed and abnormally shaped from a number of previous injuries.  Dirk is also 7 feet tall with a size 15-1/2 shoe.  Only the Ultimate Ankle could accommodate him.

How did it work for him?  Judge for yourself.  

Courtesy of BOB BAUM, AP Sports Writer

PHOENIX —A hobbled Dirk Nowitzki brought the offense. Jason Kidd triggered the defense.

The result was a fourth-quarter rally that may have saved the season for the Dallas Mavericks. Nowitzki scored 32 points and the Mavericks rallied from 13 points down early in the fourth to stun the Phoenix Suns 105-98 on Sunday.

Nowitzki, in his third game back since missing four with a sprained left knee and ankle, scored 12 in the fourth quarter.

Nowitzki’s falling-down 16-foot runner with 32.2 seconds left sealed the win. “I stumbled about 18 times,” Nowitzki said of the play. “But I was able to gather myself right at the end. Just that one little step at the end was all I needed, and I was able to knock it down.

Dallas coach Avery Johnson estimated Nowitzki’s ankle was 60 percent to 75 percent normal.

Making a difficult situation worse, Shaquille O’Neal rolled up on Dirk’s ankle during the game. Dionne Calhoun, Nowitzki’s trainer said Dirk didn’t get hurt. “The brace is working perfectly! He is a little sore, but that is to be expected playing so much on such a bad high ankle sprain, but the brace is absolutely perfect!” Calhoun said.

Nowitzki is a seven-time NBA All-Star and seven-time member of the All-NBA Teams, and is the first European-born player in NBA history to receive the NBA Most Valuable Player award.

Regarded as one of the best European players in basketball history, Nowitzki was named "European Basketball Player of the Year" by Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport for five years in a row and voted FIBA European Basketball Player of the Year in 2005. 

Gary Bledsoe fitted Dirk Nowitzki with an Ultimate Ankle Brace to get him out of his walking boot and into something more mobile. He liked it a lot. Gary fitted another one into his game shoes. He liked it even better. It was fitted to his ankle after tape was applied and over his full length orthotics, therefore the two sizes were different.

Dionne, his trainer, was very pleased and asked to have catalogs of our entire line. Dirk was also extremely pleased. “I thought he wasn’t going to let go of my hand while thanking me so much for doing this,” said Bledsoe. The doctor asked about the price for just the brace if they buy them later. When Gary told him in the 80 dollar range, his comment was, “That’s way too cheap!”

This product has taken some very elite athletes back to play very quickly over the past few years when nobody else had a product to do that. The Cowboys’ Terrell Owns missed three weeks with the same sprain

The Mavs were on the verge of missing the playoffs altogether before Dirk returned to the line-up, but now the Mavs look to be a shoe in to qualify for the post-season after winning two of their three games both SU and ATS this past week. They have two at home against Utah and New Orleans this week along with road dates with Seattle and Portland, so it would be a meltdown of epic proportions if indeed the Mavs failed to qualify for the second season.