Dirk Duped By a Gold Digger. Can It Be That Simple?

Sad to say, he went for Crystal Cristal Taylor's exaggerated, elaborate head fake.

Couple of weeks ago the Dallas Mavericks' star gave an in-depth interview to the German newspaper Bild. In it, he talked about his girlfriend. Said he was "working" on a Mrs. Nowitzki. Said he bought his live-in girlfriend a Yorkshire Terrier named Luna.

Then he characterized his love interest:

Sie ist schüchtern, sehr zurückhaltend, braucht den ganzen Rummel nicht. So wie ich.

Translation: She is shy, very low key, doesn't need all the hype. Just like me.

Now we know why Taylor was so shy and very low key. Because she was hiding eight aliases, two felony warrants and weaving who knows how many lies. Last night Taylor - who may or may not be Dirk's fiancee or wife and may or may not be pregnant with his child - was arrested on probation violation and outstanding theft charges at Dirk's Preston Hollow home.

Today, in the middle of the Mavs' second-round series against the Denver Nuggets, the gentle, gullible German - for whom we all feel for and with whom most of us can relate to - talked about not wanting to talk about it. 

Can you blame him?

In a word: Heart-breaking. Maddening. Humiliating.

Distracting.

I pondered not offering up on this uncomfortable, private news. But that wouldn't be fair because if this was Terrell Owens we'd all have a field day, no? So, here goes.

Various sources say the two met at a Houston hotel bar over a year ago. Problem is Taylor, who is 37, claimed to be 28. She told Dirk of a checkered past, but certainly not a criminal present. Her transgressions range from skipping out of dental bills to forgery. With Cristal, nothing is clear.

In other words, she's somewhere between Lizzy Borden and Lucille Hester. Perhaps a member of The Riches?

Nowitzki apparently bought her a $250,000 engagement ring. But at some point he also sensed something wasn't quite right and hired a private investigator to do some background work on his potential "the one."

Bingo.

"It's pretty obvious that I'm going through a tough time in my personal life right now," Dirk said today after Mavs' practice at American Airlines Center. "Like I always have, I want to kind of keep my private life private. I really am not at the stage where I can talk about it yet and feel comfortable talking about it. I'm more than happy to answer basketball questions, but I think at this point, I just can't talk about it."

No way the whole mess isn't a major distraction. I went to work and wrote articles while going through a divorce and it's just, well, more difficult. Not impossible, just harder.

Best news of the day was that Nowitzki is somehow maintaining his sense of humor. Asked about his preparation for Saturday's Game 3 he quipped,

"I'm a warrior. I'll be ready to play."

If you didn't catch that as a direct dig at the ridiculous Chris Webber, you haven't been paying attention.

Bottom line to Dirk getting duped: We'll never again make fun of Tony Romo's girlfriend.