DALLAS – Midway through the second quarter of the Mavericks’ momentous 122-84 Game 4 victory in these NBA Finals, Luka Dončić outran Xavier Tillman Sr., lured Jayson Tatum into the paint and found Dereck Lively II completely alone in the right corner. The Mavericks have been in dire need of someone, anyone, other than Dončić or Kyrie Irving, to connect from beyond the arc. Aside from Dallas’ pair of All-Star playmakers, the Mavericks entered Friday night’s contest shooting just 9 of 36 from 3-point range. If we subtract PJ Washington’s 4-of-14 effort in the series, no other Maverick outside of Josh Green had made more than two 3-pointers against Boston.
Lively had not attempted a deep pass this entire postseason. He hadn’t attempted a deep pass since Nov. 14. He attempted just 13 in 34 games at Duke. However, the 7-foot-1 freshman center dunked Dončić’s pass below his knees, rose and fired a magnificent arcing shot that sailed through nothing but the net. He scored the first 3-pointer of the 20-year-old’s professional career, now the youngest player to hit a 3-pointer in Finals history.
“It’s 50% of the way through the season,” Dončić surmised. “So I might as well keep shooting. He’s 1 for 2, right?” In fact, Lively is now 1 for 3 since the start of this campaign. “Okay,” Dončić smiled after a journalist’s correction. “One for 1. He is 100% in the playoffs.”
Dallas Mavericks shoots the ball in Game 4 of the 2024 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics at American Airlines Center on June 14, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. Texas. NOTE TO USER: The user expressly acknowledges and agrees that by downloading or using this photograph, the user agrees to the terms and conditions of the /Keynote USA/Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Stacy Revere//Keynote USA/Getty Images)” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/vFpphFZvF5Vvh3on7pg34A–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA–/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2024-06/23fdd070-2ad2-11ef-9a2b-f290bc09c12f”>
Dereck Lively II of the Dallas Mavericks dunks against the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the 2024 NBA Finals at American Airlines Center on June 14, 2024 in Dallas. (Photo by Stacy Revere//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
He’s been one of Dallas’ go-to players all postseason, blocking shots, grabbing rebounds and passing from the pocket like no other big man in the Mavericks’ frontcourt can. After Lively ran across the floor of the American Airlines Center with a trio of fingers pointing toward the roaring arena, he contested a layup from Tillman and then ran back up the court to lay down a lob from Irving. His seven offensive rebounds on Friday were the most the Celtics have given up to a single player in these playoffs. His final tally of 11 points and 12 rebounds gave Lively his second straight double-double of this series, becoming the first rookie player to accomplish that feat since Magic Johnson in 1980. “(Call him) my teammate,” he said. Dončić, “it’s incredible.”
Dallas had to make some arrangements to add Lively to this list. The Mavericks bypassed the playoffs a year ago with the clear intention of retaining a protected top-10 pick that Dallas had sent in an earlier trade. Throughout the pre-Draft process, opposing teams were well aware of the Mavericks’ specific interest in targeting Lively late in the 2023 lottery. And when Dallas never found common ground with Atlanta, according to league sources, In a potential framework that could have brought Hawks center Clint Capela back to Texas, the Mavericks managed to trade two spots with Oklahoma City, parting with $17 million for Davis Bertāns. salary in the process, and secured Lively anyway as the No. 12 pick overall.
Still, not even Lively’s biggest supporters in the Dallas front office could have foreseen how impressive this young man would be once he entered the Mavericks facility. He speaks with the poise and soul of someone much older and witty, a perspective Lively said he honed while watching her late mother, Kathy Drysdale, deal with her fight against the cancer that separated her from her son. in April. When his 3-pointer headed toward the rafters this afternoon, he felt like an angel was guiding the ball through the hoop. “She helped me achieve it. She will help me earn a lot more,” Lively said. “She helped me score the free throw. “She helped me do readings.”
It was Lively who Dallas head coach Jason Kidd and Irving credited as the motivating presence within the Mavericks’ group heading into Wednesday’s fourth quarter, which went on a 20-2 run and dragged Dallas back into the game. 3. “That was special,” Irving said. “Those are moments that you remember forever and carry on as a team that can help you in the future.”
The brunt of that fourth-quarter explosion came from a lineup that included Dončić, Irving and Lively, plus Washington and reserve forward Josh Green. The Mavs relied on a similar five-man group in Game 4, with Maxi Kleber in place of Washington. Over nine minutes together, that combination posted a staggering net score of more than 50 points per 100 possessions, thanks to an offensive efficiency of 135 and a defensive mark of 85. “It was a carryover,” Kidd said. “Energy and pace on both sides. Defensively we made stops.” That group can change the entire action on Boston’s perimeter screen. Green adds another dimension, along with Lively, of youth, athleticism and width that the Mavericks need in every way to combat the Celtics’ long, skilled rotation.
Dallas’ lead ballooned to 40, at one point extending to 48, and both teams emptied their benches throughout the fourth quarter. Once again on the bench, Lively’s voice stood out among a raucous crowd of 20,227. A fellow Mavericks rookie, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, saw his first minutes since Dallas’ Game 1 blowout loss to the Clippers in the first round (all April 21) and needed advice, falling so suddenly to the stage of the Finals, even with this fourth game already decided. “I was telling him to slow down, just enjoy it, keep moving forward in this game,” Lively said. “Don’t rush into anything, just feel the game, find little holes, absorb it all.”
That amazing wisdom from Lively is what makes the Mavericks staff more optimistic about her ability to maximize every ounce of her potential, for as long as the team can extend this series and beyond. “It’s just not just focused on this year,” Irving said. “We have a future together in which we will continue to grow as teammates.” It’s the makeup of Lively, after all he’s endured, that projects many more 3-pointers in his future, that predicts an anchor of Dallas’ defense for the next decade. Mavericks coaches expect him to be regularly stretching opposing defenses with his hitting as early as next season. They believe he will be able to pick up the ball at times. That he will transform into one of the biggest giants in the game, stalking the paint on both sides of the court.
“What doesn’t kill you actually makes you stronger,” Lively said. “No matter how many times you get hit, get knocked down, get up, get up stronger than you got knocked down.”
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.