NBA: Smith unimpressed:”I expect it from me.”

Dennis Smith led the Dallas Mavericks to their first win of the season in the fifth game with a strong performance against Memphis Grizzlies. Afterwards, however, the 19-year-old Rookie was unimpressed.

“I’ve been playing basketball since I was six years old. Now I’m on the highest level, but I’ve worked hard for it. I deserve this opportunity and now I have to bite into it to keep it.”

Smith came to his third game against Memphis as a professional against Memphis, but in the match he won 19 points, 5 assists and only one ball loss. This also impressed Dirk Nowitzki, who as a rookie was known to have been a little harder.

“He’s a very confident young man,”Nowitzki said.”He knows he’s good. He knows that anything is possible for him. But as long as he is self-confident and yet modest – which is true for him, because he is willing to work and listen – he should be great.”

Smith is best known for his athleticism, but Memphis was also a man of great thought and control,”he has a very mature game,”said Grizzlies coach David Fizdale.

“He’s a quiet person by nature,”said Mavs coach Rick Carlisle, who is famous for his penchant for rookies,”he processes things quickly and has a good sense of how many seconds are left on the watch. Some of the things he uses to create points, fouls or points for others are a dimension we’ve never had before.”