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Title details for The Great Nowitzki by Thomas Pletzinger - Available

The Great Nowitzki

Basketball and the Meaning of Life

by Thomas Pletzinger
Charles Constant
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
A journey into the mindset of a historic basketball superstar, and the importance of his landmark career. The seven-foot Dirk Nowitzki is one of the great players in basketball history. With a devastating fadeaway and unexpected agility, the Dallas Mavericks superstar helped to pioneer the modern three-shooting game and became a global ambassador for the sport. Award-winning novelist and sportswriter Thomas Pletzinger traveled with Nowitzki for more than seven years, seeking the secret of his success and longevity. In novelistic detail, Pletzinger tells the dramatic story of how a lanky kid from the German suburbs became a top-five all-time scorer and NBA champion. He profiles the revolutionary training methods developed by Holger Geschwindner, Dirk's enigmatic mentor and coach, whose philosophical insights on performance, creativity, and freedom shaped Dirk's game. A masterpiece of sports journalism and a work of personal obsession-akin to John McPhee's A Sense of Where You Are and David Halberstam's The Breaks of the Game-The Great Nowitzki brims with a fan's passion and offers an intimate portrait of an iconic performer.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 15, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781696607469
      • File size: 376256 KB
      • Duration: 13:03:51

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 13, 2021
      With the intensity and focus of a point guard, sportswriter and novelist Pletzinger (Funeral for a Dog) chronicles the career of 14-time All-Star basketball pro Dirk Nowitzki, “one of the best players in American sports.” Drawing on interviews with Nowitzki’s family, friends, and former teammates, Pletzinger traces his subject’s story, from his youth as “a scrawny kid” in Germany to his remarkable 21 years playing for the Dallas Mavericks. In 1993, upon meeting the then-16-year-old, German former pro basketball player Holger Geschwinder recalls noticing how Nowitzki, at a mere six feet, eight inches, ran circles around the taller players: “The game like water for him.” (Geschwinder became Nowitzki’s mentor and went on to accompany him throughout his career with the Mavericks after he was drafted in 1998.) As Pletzinger offers nimble recaps of Nowitzki’s games—including the Mavericks’ 2011 world championship—the basketball star emerges as a stoic and philosophical player devoted to the game (“Home crowds loved Nowitzki; opposing fans feared him”). What sets this account apart from other sports biographies, though, is Pletzinger’s visceral love for his subject: “His triumphs made me happy, his failures seemed excusable. Somehow, his victories were my own.” This is sure to be a slam dunk with hoops fans.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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