Dallas Mavs Dereck Lively II Puts Up Massive NBA History-Making Stats in Loss to OKC Thunder
After being down by 24 points in the fourth quarter of Saturday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Dallas Mavericks put up an NBA record-breaking 30-0 run to take a 117-111 lead with four minutes remaining. As inspiring of a run as it was, Dallas just didn't have the juice needed to bring it over the finish line on a second night of a back-to-back and ultimately fell to OKC, 126-120.
Despite the painful loss, the Mavs, who were shorthanded without Kyrie Irving, Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green and Dante Exum, had a handful of positive things to take with them going forward, including the career-best performance from 19-year-old rookie big man Dereck Lively II.
In 39 minutes, Lively finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocks while shooting 9-9 from the field and being a +12 on the night. He became the first player in NBA history to put up a stat line of at least 20 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks on 100 percent shooting as a teenager.
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"That's just the way the game is, you know," Lively said of the Mavs not being able to pull off the comeback. "Basketball is a game of runs. We were fortunate enough to be able to fight back, bring it back to a close game, but we've just got to be able to make sure that we practice more on just trying to close out the end-game situations."
Although Lively is now 1-1 when playing against Rookie of the Year frontrunners Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren, he has outplayed both of them in the head-to-head matchups. Holmgren finished Saturday's game with 11 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks on 4-10 shooting for OKC.
"Really just trying to be able to find openings," Lively said when asked about how he was able to produce a career-best game. "If they're going to double Luka, being able to know that I'm either gonna be playing out of the pocket or I'm gonna be playing out of the flash game. So I've gotta be able to know that sometimes the corner's open, sometimes it's be getting to the rim, or just me finding the open man."
Lively still has a lot to learn, and having a few offseasons in an NBA weight room will make the biggest difference for him when he goes up against MVP bigs like Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, but he's certainly on an early path to greatness in Dallas. With elite physical attributes, a high basketball IQ, and having Luka Doncic as his point guard, the sky is the limit for Lively.
