PORTLAND, Ore. – Dereck Lively II has scored in double figures in eight of the first 21 games the Mavericks have played this season.
The Mavericks are 7-1 in those games, the latest of which was the 125-112 thumping of the Portland Trail Blazers Friday night, when Lively had 10 points to go with nine rebounds.
To put this in perspective, Lively scored in double figures just five times in his 27 games as a freshman with Duke last season. The Blue Devils were 4-1 in those games.
Lively could think of a couple reasons why he’s scoring better than his lone season in college, but one stood out above the others.
Playing with Luka Dončić.
“That’s a great way to put it,” the 7-1 center said.
It was a connection with Luka on a pick-and-roll lob pass that generated Lively’s slam-dunk with 9:26 to play, completing a 7-0 Mavericks’ run that put them up 106-98 – and on cruise control the rest of the way.
“Dereck’s been a great receiver running his routes,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He understands when he rolls, there’s an opportunity for him to score. He does it with force, he has great hands and Luka trusts him. They have a great partnership that’s developing on the fly.”
And developing quickly. While San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama and Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren are getting all the attention among NBA rookies, Lively has put together a strong early run this season, averaging 8.7 points and 7.7 rebounds. And his 1.6 blocks per game don’t go unnoticed, either.
At 73.5 percent, he’s far and away the rookie leader in field-goal success rate. And he would lead the NBA with just a few more shot attempts.
Lively credits Dončić and his other teammates for getting him involved in the offense at such a tender age (19). Lively said he has yet to feel the rookie wall, but said there are stretches when he feels the NBA’s grind getting to him.
“There’s definitely times when you got to be able to do mind over matter,” he said. “You got to be able to know that your body is going to hurt, but you still got to be able to have your mind in the game. If your mind is locked in, your body is going to follow.”
So far there has been nothing to nitpick about. And you could say that about the entire 2023 draft class, which has been more than solid so far. Nine first rounders are averaging at least eight points and three of them are grabbing at least seven rebounds.
Lively is among both groups.
“There’s a lot of killers out there in this class,” Lively said.
And he has lots of support for that analysis.
“I think this is a great class,” Blazers’ coach Chauncey Billups said. “Most people thought it would be top-heavy, but it’s proven to not just be top-heavy. There’s so many good players. (Dallas) has two really good rookies (Lively and O-Max Prosper) who are playing well and will be great players in this league for a long time.
“There’s so many of them. It’s a very, very deep class. The way I think about it is, how many guys can come in and contribute in that first year? Oftentimes, it’s four or five guys. This year, it’s a ton more than that. Great class.”
Kidd also is a big supporter of the depth of this rookie class so far.
“This class is interesting,” he said. “When you look at Victor and Chet, they get a lot of the attention. But there’s a lot of other guys playing very well as rookies. The way that things are going now, this class is a little bit deeper than I think most experts thought.”
With Lively as a proud member of that group.
Here’s our other takeaways from the Mavericks’ solid win in Portland.
Oh yeah, Luka can score, too: While he rolled up 10 assists, many of them to Lively, Dončić also piled up 32 points against the Blazers to lead the Mavericks and keep him near the top of the NBA scoring leaderboard. “He’s probably the hardest guy to game-plan for in the league because you can play him perfect and it not matter,” Billups said. “He’s just that good. He really is. There are certain players in the league that even if you play good D and they miss the shot, most of the time they just missed the shot. It wasn’t the defense. He’s so big, if you blitz him, he can see over the top of it, knows where it’s coming from. He can do it all. But that doesn’t discourage us from trying it all.” Indeed, the Blazers tried it all. And their results were the same as most everybody else this season.
Cavalry charge: The Mavericks had six players score in double figures and that was the key to this victory given that Josh Green, Grant Williams and Maxi Kleber were out and Kyrie Irving departed late in the first half with a foot injury. To have Dante Exum come through with 23 points showed that he can still be a factor on the offensive end in addition to his passing.
The injuries are mounting: With Irving’s departure, the Mavericks were down to just seven of their primary rotation players. But they got a boost from guys like A.J. Lawson, who got loose for a fast-break jam when the Mavericks needed a lift. The question is how long, if at all, Irving’s foot problem will linger?
Twitter: @ESefko
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