‘I know my momma got me,’ Mavericks’ Dereck Lively II says of clutch free throws

Having missed three of his previous four free throws, Mavericks rookie Dereck Lively II steeled himself with three voices as he once again stepped to the line with 3:27 remaining and the Mavericks clinging to a 96-92 lead in Game 3 against the Thunder.

The voice in his head.

The voice of Kyrie Irving during a timeout moments earlier.

And, on Mother’s Day eve, as has been the case throughout his 20-year life, Lively was guided by the words of his mother, Kathy Drysdale, who died a month ago Sunday from Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“I know my momma got me,” Lively said. “She’s watching me. I know she’s telling me to make the damn free throws, so I’ve got to step up and make them.”

Make them, he did. Both of them, giving Dallas a six-point lead. Oklahoma City called timeout after the second make. That’s when Irving offered tough-love words of encouragement and advice to Lively, who on the previous play had run out of bounds in an effort to prevent getting fouled by Chet Holmgren.

“We came back to the bench,” Irving said, “and I was just like, ‘Man, you don’t have to do all that. Just let them foul you. Take it as a compliment and go up there and knock down your free throws, man. We believe in you. We know you put in a lot of reps.’”

Just 21 seconds later, with Dallas’ lead down to 98-95 after an Isaiah Joe 3-pointer, the Thunder purposely fouled Lively again. He made both attempts, finishing 8-of-12 for the game.

It’s the old Hack-A-Shaq strategy that former Mavericks coach Don Nelson and then other teams employed against Shaquille O’Neal during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Lively shot 50% on free throws during the regular season. Entering Saturday, he was 52% for the playoffs.

Clearly, Oklahoma City was playing the percentages, not only testing Lively’s free-throw acumen but 20-year-old nerves.

“They think that I can’t make free throws, so I’m going to step up and show them what I’m working on,” Lively said. “Show them the amount of time I put in, the effort I put in.”

Of his initial attempt to avoid getting fouled, Lively said: “There’s probably a clip out there of me just running around. I was trying to make the lane open for my teammates. And you know, my teammates were like, Why the hell you running? Just stay there. Knock him in. Just having my teammates backing me up like just makes you just want to step up and make them even more.”

Lively said that during his lone season at Duke, no opponents purposely fouled him. It happened once during the Mavericks’ first round series against the Clippers.

Lively anticipates that Oklahoma City will continue to employ the strategy, but he’ll have the confidence of knowing that he came through on Saturday when it most mattered.

And of course, he knows Kathy and his teammates have his back.

“They’re probably going to do that if it’s a close game and they think they need the ball back, they’re just gonna foul me for Hack-A-Lively,” he said. “I’ve got to be able to step and knock ‘em down.”