Dirk Nowitzki voted European player of the year, Kirilenko came fifth

FIBA Europe announced on Tuesday that the Dallas Mavericks Dirk Nowitzki of Germany has been voted the 2011 European Player of the Year.

Nowitzki was the winner of the expert panel vote ahead of Spain captain and EuroBasket 2011 MVP Juan Carlos Navarro and came in fourth in the public voting.

Nowitzki, who has been playing for Dallas since the beginning of his NBA career in 1998, raised his game as pressure mounted in the play-offs to secure a historic first NBA championship for the Texas franchise.

He averaged 27.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the play-offs, up from 23.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in the regular season.

Meanwhile, CSKA Moscow forward Andrey Kirilenko came in fifth in the rankings.