Rookie Dereck Lively II has been historically good for Dallas Mavericks in playoffs

Jeremy Vernon

Rookie Dereck Lively II has been historically good for Dallas Mavericks in playoffs image

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. 

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.

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.

Jeremy Vernon

Jeremy Vernon Photo

Jeremy Vernon is a reporter and editor from Greensboro, North Carolina, with a decade of experience in the industry. His previous stops include MLB.com and two local papers in N.C. — the Monroe Enquirer-Journal and the Chatham News + Record. When he isn’t working, you can likely find Jeremy at the dog park with his two-year old lab mix, Summer.