DALLAS —As the Dallas Mavericks faced possible elimination in the NBA Finals, rookie center Dereck Lively II stepped up in many ways, including one the league hasn't seen yet. He spaced out from the corner in the opening period with Jayson Tatum crossmatched onto him before helping on Luka Doncic's drive, freeing up Lively for a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer he confidently shot and converted.
" If they leave me open in the corner, I'm going to get them up, for sure," said Lively, who totaled 11 points and 12 rebounds in the Mavericks' 122-84 victory in Game 4.." It's just having that trust. Luka is going to give me the ball. As soon as I shot it, he kind of jumped for joy when it went in. Just having that reaction from my teammates is just amazing. Makes you want to just learn, just practice, and just do more."
It was the first made 3-pointer of Lively's career, serving as a momentum-boosting play for the Mavericks when the team was creating needed separation from the Celtics in what proved to be a dominant victory for Dallas in Game 4. After he made the shot, the American Airlines Center crowd erupted in support of Lively and the team.
"As I jogged down, I slowly heard it. It kept getting louder and louder," Lively said. "Whenever you have the fans hyped like that, backing you up, it makes you want to play that much more free, with that much more energy."
Perimeter shooting will be a layer of Lively's offensive skill set at some point in his NBA career. He was not a high-volume shooter at Duke by any means, totaling 13 attempts in 34 games, but he did show potential in high school during his AAU days. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd described three-point shooting as being the "next step" for Lively in the long term.
"He was in the right spot. He took it from there. He can shoot. That's the next step for his development, is being able to shoot the three," Kidd said. "He's young. But as a 20-year-old, he's grown up in the AAU circuit where in high school, he could shoot, he could handle. He'd tell you he played point guard. His ability to be able to bring the ball, being able to shoot the three is the next step for him. He has all the skill set."
Kyrie Irving wasn't surprised by Lively hitting a shot from the corner considering he had utilized his jumper from distance at previous stages of his career. He referenced watching Lively's highlights from high school recently.
"I mean, if you're familiar with D Live's game, you know in high school he was shooting those threes," Irving said. "He was on a pretty good team that ended up winning a few championships together. D Live had an expanded game, sort of to say, when he was in high school. It's crazy. I was watching highlights not too long ago. When he shoots it, I have the utmost confidence."
When answering whether he'd ever imagined making a three-point shot in the NBA Finals as he's prepared for each game, Lively was confident but credited his late mother, Kathy Drysdale, who passed away before the postseason began. Lively continues to lean on the advice he's received from her throughout his basketball journey.
"It's for her. She helped me make it," Lively said. "She's going to help me make a lot more. She helped me make the free throw. She helped me make reads. I'm just happy for having Luka pass me the ball in that position. I'm happy I knocked it down. Just got to be able."
Kidd did emphasize the importance for Lively to continue to make a strong impact as a defensive presence in the paint and in space, along with being an energetic offensive rebounder. "Right now, the role we need him to do, is do what he did tonight: offensive rebound, change shots, and be able to guard," he said.
Lively has made a substantial impact in many facets for the Mavericks throughout their postseason run, but Game 4 of the NBA Finals was a particularly impressive showing. He accounted for seven offensive rebounds, nearly doubling Boston's count of four, in an attempt to punish the Celtics' approach of crossmatching a small on him as a frequent matchup throughout the game.
"D Live was great. His energy was great. His ability to give us second opportunities," Kidd said. "He displayed his range tonight with the corner three. He was really good. He's been good. Giving us second opportunities, picking up a foul, getting the offensive rebound, was needed. I thought he did a really good job this evening."
Doncic was a big fan of Lively taking and making his three-point attempt, describing it as being "big time." The Slovenian superstar continues to be impressed by what the rookie big man manages to achieve despite only being 20 years old. Dallas has outscored opponents by 13.6 points per 100 possessions in 393 postseason minutes involving Doncic and Lively. Specifically, in the NBA Finals, that figure is at a 6.2 net rating in 82 minutes thus far.
"Big-time, man. I think people forget he's a rookie. He's a rookie doing this stuff," Doncic said. "He's been amazing the whole season. Just watching him grow was unbelievable. It's fun having him out there with me. Call him my teammate, it's unbelievable. It's a pleasure to have him."
"He's 50% on the season, so he might as well just keep shooting. He's 1-for-2, right?" Doncic asked. After being told Lively is now 1 of 3 from deep in his career, Doncic responded: "All right. 1-for-1 -- he's 100% in the playoffs."
Irving felt Lively's made three-pointer was a truly momentum-shifting play, considering it seemingly caught many in the arena by surprise. With the team leaning on Lively's energy to make a positive impact, the team felt a boost from that shot.
"I think it surprised a lot of people in the arena because of the attempts he hasn't had yet," Irving said. "For him to step up and shoot that shot, we needed it. It eased everybody else out. Created a little bit more separation in the game. Eased everybody else's feelings that were out there with him.
"When you have one of our vocal leaders making a three like that, you best believe he's going to come to the bench and let everybody know he made that shot," Irving concluded. "Everybody was happy for him. We knew it was a big shot. More credit to him. Want him to keep working on it. But I don't know if he shoots it again. If he's open, and shoots it, then we have the confidence in him."
Lively has routinely served as an optimistic leader for the Mavericks, even despite the team falling down 3-0 in the series. He continued to stress the importance of focusing on the day to day responsibilities to rally back against the Celtics.
"I'm not comfortable. We got to win. We got to have a lot more wins," Lively said. "We got to win a lot more of the little battles. Got to stay disciplined. We just got to replicate what we did this game. Do it the next one."
While the Mavericks achieved a victory in Game 4, the ultimate test will occur on Monday night when they have to do it again, but this time, at TD Garden, with a motivated Celtics team focused on closing out the series and responding to a blowout loss.
"I wouldn't say we're overly happy. We enjoyed this win. But we're not jumping for joy. We got to win," Lively explained. "We do what we need to do for this game. Now it's getting into Game 5. We're going into another hostile environment. Now we just got to take from what we did this game, learn to how they're going to adapt to this game, do whatever we can to emulate, make this happen again."
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