Germany's Dirk Nowitzki is being described as one of the best basketball players of all time after leading the NBA's Dallas Mavericks to their first championship in franchise history.

On Thursday, his teammates sang Queen’s immortal song ‘We are the Champion” in front of over 220,000 fans partying on the South Plaza.

Nowitzki, the 2011 NBA Finals MVP, expressed his appreciation to the Mavs fans that have remained loyal to the team despite its ups and downs.  

Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who reportedly covered the parade’s expense, was also there on the balcony, prompting the fans to continue the celebration of their team’s first NBA Finals title in history.

Thursday’s parade was filled with cheers and memories of the Mavs’ sensational postseason, which was capped by their 4-2 series win against the highly-touted Miami Heat squad.

"I had to get away for a moment, be by myself for a couple of minutes and lay down," the Dallas Mavericks star said after Sunday's victory. "I cried for a second and got my composure before coming back out for the trophy presentation."

Nowitzki is only the second European in history to be given the award."I still really can't believe it. We've worked so hard and so long for it," Nowitzki said. "It's been a great run. This feeling to be on the best team in the world is indescribable."

Born in 1978,  Nowitzki graduated friom Röntgen Gymnasium and subsequently played for the DJK Würzburg basketball club, He was drafted ninth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1998 NBA Draft, and was immediately traded to the Mavericks, where he has played ever since.

Standing 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), Nowitzki plays the power forward position but also has the mobility, size, and shooting ability to play the other frontcourt positions, center and small forward, according to Wikipedia.

Ex-Fiancee out of jail

Meanwhile, Cristal Taylor, 39, Nowitzki's convicted former fiancée, has been out of prison since Jan. 28, residing in Missouri, her attorney said Thursday."She's just getting on with her life, with her family," St. Louis-based attorney Matthew Fry said. "She's very happy, and she's working to become a productive member of society."

In 2009, Taylor was arrested at Novirzki's villa in Dallas on fraud charges. She was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail. But she was released on probabtion after having served only one year in a women's prison in Vandeloa. Missouri.

Novitzki's new girlfriend is Swedish beauty Jessica Olsson, who works in a Dallas art gallery. "She is a terrific woman, smart and intelligent," the superstar told the Dallas Morning News. "I would like to start a family and watch little Dirks running around."

Last August, a St. Charles, Mo., judge sentenced Taylor to five years in prison for violating probation in a decade-old forgery and theft case.

At the time Taylor's sentencing on St. Charles, Mo, judge Nancy Schneider subtracted a year for probation served, plus credit for the 100-plus days she served in Texas and Missouri correctional facilities after her May 6 arrest.

After the sentencing, Fry said Taylor probably would have to serve at least 14 months, or 30 percent of what remained of her sentence. She also faced separate probation-violation charges in St. Louis.

But on Thursday, Fry said that all Missouri charges were disposed of during a Jan. 28 probation hearing, after which Taylor was released.As previously reported, theft charges against Taylor in Beaumont were dropped last November.

Agencies/Dallas Morning News/Wikipedia/germerica