BOSTON — Jason Kidd’s humor is set at deadpan, which matches his mood most of the time, so it was hard to tell if he was serious when he said Dereck Lively II was simply in range when explaining what in the world led him to shoot, let alone make, his first career 3 in Game 4. Seemed a curious time to break out a secret weapon, if that’s what it was. The Mavs could have used a 3 from Lively in the previous three games, for that matter. Could have used one from anybody.
Chances are they teed it up for Lively just to give the brainy Celtics something to overthink about on the trip back to Boston for Game 5. Don’t think Kidd would resort to such a thing? You haven’t been paying attention.
But, in all seriousness, the most significant development of Game 4 — other than, you know, it necessitated a Game 5 — was the return of last summer’s first-round pick to the status of the Mavs’ Third-Most Important Player.
The Mavs missed Lively the first two games up here.
They wouldn’t have made it back without him.
In Games 1 and 2, he scored a total of four points with 12 rebounds. In Games 3 and 4, he became only the second rookie to record back-to-back double-doubles in the NBA Finals.
The other?
Magic Johnson.
“I think people forget he’s just a rookie,” Luka Doncic said after Friday’s blowout. “He’s a rookie doing this stuff. He’s been amazing the whole season. Just watching him grow was unbelievable.
“It’s fun having him out there with me. Call him my teammate.”
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems as if Lively is one of Luka’s favorites. And why not? He’s the Mavs’ best rookie since Luka, not to mention one of their most promising talents this century.
For now, it’s enough that he gives the Celtics someone to worry about other than Luka and Kyrie Irving.
Going into the Finals, it was pretty much a given that Luka was the best player in the series. No sooner had yours truly made a case that Kyrie could be the second-best than I came to regret it. Kyrie’s old Boston demons haunted him in the first two games. If it’s the same Monday, I don’t see how the Mavs bring the Finals back to Dallas, which is why he’s the story of stories in these parts.
But the fact that the Mavs have the best big man in the Finals is a developing subtext, not to mention a surprising one.
Kristaps Porzingis has the better nickname (Unicorn) and averages (16 points, 5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks in the Finals). Also leads in Mavs draft picks deeded to the Knicks. He’s just questionable for the next game, as usual. His coach, Joe Mazzulla, deemed him available for Game 4 “if necessary,” whatever that meant. My guess is if he couldn’t even stretch his legs with the JV in the fourth quarter Friday, he might not be much of a factor Monday.
His back-up, Al Horford, can hit an occasional 3, too. But Luka and Kyrie have just about worn him to a nub. The Mavs engineer switches that leave the 38-year-old center on an island previously occupied by Rudy Gobert.
By the way: Did I ever tell you that I once covered a high school basketball game played by Al’s old man? A belated Happy Father’s Day, Tito. Your kid did good.
Of all the numbers at the bottom of the Mavs’ blowout of the Celtics at American Airlines Center last week, the most important was the rebounding margin: 52-31. Lively had 12 in just 22 minutes. His seven offensive rebounds were three more than the Celtics had as a team. If Lively and his tag-team partner, Daniel Gafford, control the paint Monday like they did in Game 4, the Mavs have a chance to screw up everyone’s vacation schedules.
Of course, as previously noted, everything else must go right for the Mavs, too. As Gafford said Sunday, they have a very slim margin of error. Luka and Kyrie must be the best players on the floor. The rest have to play defense, hit a few 3s and attempt to sustain the momentum of Game 4, when they were, as Lively put it, “running and talking and playing free.”
Can they really expect to repeat that level of performance? Lively thinks they can do better by “adding a little bit more aggression.”
Pretty crazy to think, considering this time a year ago Lively was just a week away from the draft, wondering where he was headed.
“And now I’m playing in the NBA Finals,” he said.
Frankly, I can hardly believe it myself. Still a little mystified that it didn’t all come to an end Friday. Then again, as Kidd noted, the longer Lively and the other youngsters on his roster play, the better they get. If I were the Celtics, I’d get this over with as soon as possible and avoid any further embarrassment.
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