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This Year Is Different: How the Mavs Won It All--The Official Story Kindle Edition

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 86 ratings

Dallas sports talk Host Bob Sturm wants everyone to know exactly how the Mavericks pulled off their magical championship run in 2011. Through extensive interviews and covering the Mavericks as a passionate journalist, Sturm illuminates what exactly brought the Mavericks together as a team—a team that won 57 regular season games and compiled playoff series victories over Portland, Los Angeles, and Oklahoma City before taking the home the Larry O’Brien Trophy from the Finals by convincingly defeating the Miami Heat.

THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT covers all the important details of the Dallas Mavericks' 2011 championship season, including:

- The transformation of the Dallas Mavericks franchise from perennial loser to NBA powerhouse.

- Dirk Nowitzki's career-long battle to cement his dynasty with an NBA championship, including a bitter loss in the 2006 Finals to Dwyane Wade's Miami Heat.

- Tracing the ups and downs of the 2011 campaign, as the Mavs soared to the top of the standings, only to suffer critical injuries mid-season and a string of losses which threatened their playoff hopes.

- A game-by-game recap of the Mavericks' 2011 playoff run, as they battled through the quarter-, semi-, and Western Conference Finals for a chance to compete for the NBA championship.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bob Sturm, a native of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and a graduate of Liberty University, has hosted his half of the Bob and Dan Show on Sportsradio 1310, The Ticket in Dallas, Texas, since 1999. Bob has also worked in television sports and has written sports blogs and stories for the Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, and Fox Sports Southwest. He and his wife, Sally, and three children, Madeline, Brett, and Justin, live in Lewisville, Texas.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006L96DCS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Diversion Books (January 7, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 7, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 813 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 266 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0983988560
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 86 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
86 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book well-written and enjoyable to read. They appreciate the author's attention to detail and insights into key players and their contributions. The book works well in all areas, including functionality, visual content, and storytelling. It paints a vivid picture of the amazing run and championship season, allowing readers to relive it.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

11 customers mention "Readability"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and well-written. They appreciate the behind-the-scenes details.

"...The book is good, and it was just written by Bob Sturm...." Read more

"...The book is fun and easy to read - everything is covered in the right amount of detail and I wish we could pay more for it because it's just that..." Read more

"...This is not just a good basketball book, it's a good story that happens to have basketball as the setting...." Read more

"If you're a Mavs fan, this is a just read. Bob does a great job of detailing the season...." Read more

5 customers mention "Detail"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's attention to detail. They find it provides insights into key players and lesser-known stories that paint an accurate picture.

"...The story goes in detail on the key contributors (Dirk, Jet, Kidd, Chandler, Coach Carlisle, etc.) as well as the regular season and post season...." Read more

"...Bob has always had a key eye for the details and that shows in this book." Read more

"...The book is fun and easy to read - everything is covered in the right amount of detail and I wish we could pay more for it because it's just that..." Read more

"...that postseason, but how great it was to discover some of the lesser known stories that paint an accurate, not legendary, portrait of their amazing..." Read more

4 customers mention "Functionality"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's functionality. They say it works well in all areas and is worth every penny.

"...What's special about this book is that it's good in all three areas, and that helps us when we're moving forward...." Read more

"...After I was able to download the book I must say Bob did an outstanding job...." Read more

"Really works well, worth every penny." Read more

"Excellent book Bob did a great job on this one." Read more

4 customers mention "Visual content"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's vivid depiction of the season. It details the unique championship run and allows them to relive it.

"...time to put together a collected, in depth tale of the greatest sports accomplishments by a team I have followed in my lifetime...." Read more

"If you're a Mavs fan, this is a just read. Bob does a great job of detailing the season...." Read more

"...Sports Bully from Wisconsin, paints a vivid picture of a truly unique championship season. It made me sports cry a little...." Read more

"...known stories that paint an accurate, not legendary, portrait of their amazing run. What a run, indeed." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2012
    This book is different. It doesn't come from a renowned author - who by his own admission on Twitter is one and done in the publishing business. It doesn't rest nicely in hands as so many others bound on paper do. And while it does on the surface tell you what you already know, it reveals insight that would otherwise have stayed hidden in the memories of the people who contributed to the story.

    Like many devoted sports fans I have no access to the athletes, coaches, and staff of the teams that I follow so closely. My heroes regularly delight me in the performance, yet they remain largely unknown apart from occasional sound bites in interviews. Even these are spread out over such a period of time that it is impossible to tie them together into anything cohesive. That is why it is special when someone who does have access to the principals involved takes the time to put together a collected, in depth tale of the greatest sports accomplishments by a team I have followed in my lifetime.

    I can't imagine the hours upon hours that it took to put This Year Is Different together, but I am grateful all the same. The story goes in detail on the key contributors (Dirk, Jet, Kidd, Chandler, Coach Carlisle, etc.) as well as the regular season and post season. Readers learn about the decisions that Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson made over the years in putting the Mavericks together. The story of how each of the key players came to be here for 2010-11, and how Carlisle pulled all the right strings over 103 games that ended in hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy.

    While reading the book I often found myself saying, "Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Condensing the year that started with a BBQ at DeShawn Stevenson's house where Jet got his Larry O'Brien trophy tattoo and concluded with Carlisle's detailed e-mail answering Bob's final question into a single volume really helped crystallize an event that was very special to me. I thank Bob a lot for all of the effort that he put into This Year Is Different, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to savor the championship season of the 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks.
    13 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2013
    Dallas sports has seen some great teams during my lifetime. The championship Cowboys teams experienced a quick turnaround but everyone could see success coming from at least the 7-9 1990 season. The Stars Stanley Cup was a fun novelty ride, but probably would rank below your local high school football team on the list of teams North Texans would get really excited about if they made a run. The Rangers are my favorite local team, but even the two World Series trips weren't as exciting as the Mavs' run through the 2011 NBA Playoffs. It was exhilarating, fulfilling, and completely unexpected. The psychology of following a team like the Dirk era Mavs is unique in that you appreciate the consistency but never get too invested because you fear (know?) that the rug is going to be pulled from in under you at some point. That we believed in 2006, and then were convinced as Dirk tore through the 2006-2007 regular season only made us more cynical. If the season had ended after Game 4 of the Lakers series, Mavericks fans would have counted 2011 as more than any one of us could have imagined. Beating the Heat Superfriends in Miami was a fairy tale that I sometimes still wonder if I imagined. But I didn't imagine it, and Brian Cardinal didn't turn back into a pumpkin at midnight. Read This Year Is Different and relive 2011. You still won't believe the Mavs will regain their resolve in Portland and will be checking the number of pages left after the Brandon Roy game. When Kobe says he might be sick in the head for thinking the Lakers would win after being down 0-3 you'll be preparing yourself for how the Mavs will manage to lose four straight. And you'll be telling yourself that it was a good run when Dirk tears a finger ligament and gets a sinus infection in the Finals and the Mavs go down 1-0 and 2-1 to the invincible Heat. Reading This Year Is Different gave me the opportunity to ride the roller coaster again, even though I knew the story ended. Thank you Mark, thank you Donnie, thank you Rick, Dirk, Jason, and JET. And thank you Bob Sturm!
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2015
    I have listened to Bob Sturm for years on his radio show on 1310 AM The Ticket in Dallas-Ft. Worth along with Dan McDowell and Donavan Lewis. Bob has always had a key eye for the details and that shows in this book.
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2011
    Obviously when you're talking about Bob Sturm, you're talking about a guy who just wrote a good book. The book is good, and it was just written by Bob Sturm. What's special about this book is that it's good in all three areas, and that helps us when we're moving forward.

    Bob starts off with a good chapter, then he has another good chapter. Pretty soon he's stacking good chapters on top of good chapters, and that's usually another good way of moving forward (although I won't know for certain until I see the tape). Another thing about this book is that it is not available in paperback, and this book is a book that is available only as an e-book. As for why that is, I don't have a good answer for that.

    At this point in my Amazon product review, I will take an unnecessary and panicked timeout. The timeout was both panicked and unnecessary,, and it's something that I did in my Amazon product review.
    178 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2011
    Um...you know...everybody in the back of their mind...they..they hope...you know what I'm sayin..you know...um..you know...you always hope....but...you know...you know, the first day...that Friday....you know, they had an opportunity, and they didn't take advantage, you know? You know? A lot, you know. A lot of those guys, uh, you know? I'm quite sure I'm not speaking for everybody else, but I'm speaking for myself, but um, if...um..you know...a lotta guys would, you know, I guess would take a lot less, you know, just to be in a comfortable position, and you know, you know, and you know what I'm sayin? And be where, you know what I'm sayin? But, you know, it gets to a point, you know? So, you know.
    8 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Renato Muller
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great!!!!
    Reviewed in Brazil on September 15, 2014
    A very good review of the 2011 Dallas Mavericks' road to a long-awaited NBA title. Underdogs not only in the Finals, but questioned all along the playoffs, Dirk Nowitzki's team showed tremendous strength to overcome many hurdles and not only sweep the Lakers, champions of the 2 previous seasons, but also defeat Durant's OKC and, then, a Miami Heat considered destined to win lots of titles. Filled with inside information and able to bring a solid view of a no-frills team, from the management to the end of the bench, a great tribute to teamwork!

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