DALLAS — Midway through the second quarter of the Mavericks’ momentous 122-84 victory in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Luka Dončić drove past Xavier Tillman Sr., lured Jayson Tatum into the paint and found Derek Lively II all alone in the right corner. The Mavericks badly needed someone, anyone, other than Dončić or Kyrie Irving, to connect from beyond the arc. Outside of Dallas’ pair of All-Star creators, the Mavericks entered Friday night’s contest shooting just 9 of 36 from 3-point range. Subtract PJ Washington’s 4-of-14 effort, and no other Maverick besides Josh Green had converted more than two triples against Boston.
Lively hadn’t attempted a deep ball all postseason. He hadn’t attempted a deep ball since Nov. 14. He only attempted 13 in 34 games at Duke. Yet the 7-foot-1 freshman dunked Dončić’s pass under his knees, stood up and fired a beautiful arcing moonshot that only crossed the net. It was the first 3-pointer of the 20-year-old’s professional career – now the youngest player to make a triple in Finals history.
“He is at 50% for the season,” Dončić assumed. “Then you might as well keep shooting.” He’s 1 for 2, right? In fact, Lively is now one of three partners at the start of this campaign. “Very good,” smiled Dončić following this correction from a journalist. “One for 1. He’s 100% in the playoffs.”
He’s been one of Dallas’ only players all postseason, blocking shots, grabbing rebounds and getting out of the pocket like no other big man in the Mavericks’ frontcourt can. After Lively paced the American Airlines Center floor with a trio of fingers flashing toward the roaring arena, he contested a Tillman layup, then sprinted down the court to return a lob from Irving. His seven offensive rebounds Friday were the most the Celtics have given up to a single player throughout this postseason. His final total of 11 points and 12 rebounds gave Lively his second consecutive double-double of that series, becoming the first rookie player to achieve the feat since Magic Johnson in 1980. “(To) call him my teammate”, said Dončić, “it’s incredible.”
It took Dallas a while to add Lively to that 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, rival teams were well aware of the Mavericks’ specific interest in targeting Lively at the end of the 2023 lottery. And even though Dallas never found common ground with Atlanta , according to league sources, on a potential executive who could have brought Hawks center Clint Capela back to Texas, the Mavericks still managed to trade two spots with Oklahoma City, losing Davis Bertāns’ $17 million. salary in the process, and still got Lively as the 12th overall pick.
Yet even Lively’s biggest supporters within the Dallas front office couldn’t have predicted just how impressive this young man would be once he stepped into the Mavericks’ facility. He speaks with the confidence and soul of someone much older and witty, a perspective Lively said she honed watching her late mother, Kathy Drysdale, deal with her battle with cancer that left her taken from her son in April. When his three-pointer skied toward the rafters tonight, he felt an angel guide that ball through the rim. “She helped me get there. She’s going to help me earn a lot more,” Lively said. “She helped me make the free throw. She helped me do readings.
It was Lively who Dallas head coach Jason Kidd and Irving both credited as being the motivating presence within the Mavericks’ huddle heading into Wednesday’s fourth quarter that prevented a 20-game streak. 2 and took Dallas right back into Game 3. “It was special,” Irving said. “These are moments you will remember forever and you continue to build a team that can help you down the line.”
The bulk of that fourth-quarter explosion came from a lineup that included Dončić, Irving and Lively, as well as Washington and reserve swingman Josh Green. The Mavs relied on a similar five-man group in Game 4, with Maxi Kleber in place of Washington. In nine minutes together, this combination posted a staggering net rating of plus-50 points per 100 possessions, thanks to an offensive efficiency of 135 and a defensive rating of 85. “It was a carryover,” Kidd said. “Energy and rhythm on both sides. Defensively, we made some saves. This group can change all actions on the Boston perimeter screen. Green adds another dimension, along with Lively, of youth, athleticism and agility that the Mavericks need in every way to combat the Celtics’ long and capable rotation.
Dallas’ lead ballooned to 40, at one point extending to 48, and both teams emptied their benches for the entire fourth quarter. Once again, on the sidelines, Lively’s voice stood out among a raucous crowd of 20,227. Another Mavericks rookie, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, saw his first minutes since Dallas’ blowout Game 1 loss to the Clippers in the first round – as early as April 21 – and needed advice, stumbling onto the scene so suddenly of the final, even with this Game 4 already decided. “I was telling him to slow down, enjoy it, fight his way through this match,” Lively said. “Don’t rush anything, just feel your way through the game, find little holes, absorb everything.”
This uncanny wisdom from Lively is what makes the Mavericks staff most optimistic about his ability to maximize every ounce of his 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 Lively’s makeup, after all he’s weathered, that projects a lot more 3-point shooting in his future, that projects an anchor for Dallas’ defense for the next decade. Mavericks coaches expect him to regularly stretch opposing defenses with his shot starting next season. They believe he will be able to come up with the ball on occasion. That he will transform into one of the game’s greatest giants, stalking the paint on both ends of the court.
“Anything that doesn’t kill you really makes you stronger,” Lively said. “No matter how many times you get hit, knocked down, get up, get up stronger than you were knocked down.”