While the Mavericks are led by two superstars in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, rookie center Dereck Lively II has been the unsung hero for Dallas in the 2024 playoffs.
In Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, Lively scored 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting to go with nine rebounds and two assists.
Luka Doncic on Dereck Lively: “He’s been amazing this season and playoffs. He took not one, not two, three steps forward. He’s a rookie. I think people still forget this sometimes. He’s doing this in the Western Conference Finals, which is insane. His ceiling is gonna be huge.” pic.twitter.com/CuYBz1I2eN
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) May 25, 2024
Before this postseason, the last time a rookie shot 100% from the field in a playoff game with a minimum of five shot attempts was in 2012, when Philadelphia’s Lavoy Allen and Boston’s Greg Stiemsa both hit the mark in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Lively has now accomplished the feat twice — in Game 2 on Friday and in Game 5 of the first-round series against the Clippers.
So far in these playoffs, Lively has a plus-minus of +106 in 14 games. Lively is currently second all-time in postseason plus-minus by a rookie, trailing only Manu Ginobili, who was +191 over 24 games in the 2003 playoffs.
Lively — who played collegiately at Duke — was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. He has averaged 8.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game during the playoffs so far while shooting 63.9% from the field.
Some of Dereck Lively’s assists this postseason pic.twitter.com/a5OflludWi
— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) May 24, 2024
Lively has combined with Daniel Gafford to revitalize the Mavericks’ frontcourt. Both possess elite athleticism for their size, the perfect trait to have while playing alongside ball-handlers like Doncic and Irving who can throw a pinpoint alley-oop pass.
Gafford, for his part, had 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting in Game 2. Dallas had 54 points in the paint Friday night on a Minnesota defense that was second in the NBA during the regular season in paint points allowed per game (46.1).
For comparison, Minnesota centers Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns shot a combined 10-of-26 (38.5%) from the field.
