Lively was the difference maker. Came back on with 2 mins to go and the Mavs went on a 9-2 run. His defensive effort was critical in the win tonight.
His vertical scoring ability as a lob threat completely changes the dynamic of the Mavs offense. Stopping Luka and Lively going downhill is going to be a challenge for the league with Luka’s elite playmaking and scoring ability
Mavs fans rejoice as they now have a big that isn’t Dwight Powell
This guy is a young Tyson Chandler.
Outplayed wemby
he really improved as the season went along at Duke, and i’d expect more of the same here. Love to see him climbing the learning curve.
Didn’t watch him the summer league or preseason, but can he shoot 3? I see he didn’t attempt any 3s this game
I can see him being a perimeter threat one day since he has pretty good form, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. He has too much to work on to commit to what is likely to be an inefficient play.
Some of his pre-draft workout videos had him going like 12 for 12 from three so the potential is there. I don’t think they will ask him to incorporate that into his game anytime soon though. Focus will be hanging on defensively in games and continuing to improve his rim rolling with Luka/Kai
For the most criticised pick in the entire draft. Lively looks like a fucking beast. Can definitely tell he’s been learning from chandler.
Mavs don’t win this without him
So happy for Lively. His career at Duke started off rough, and many of us Duke fans did not understand the hype.
But his positive attitude never faded, and as the year wore on, he did things we’d never seen on the Defensive side and was always good for 4-5 clean up dunks per game.
Reportedly an amazing person too
It’s the first game of the season against a team that had the worst record in the West last year. lol
Counterpoint, it’s the guy’s first time playing an nba game and he was legitimately an impact player
We haven’t had that spirit here since 2011
He looks like the ideal version of JaVale McGee without all the JaVale McGee-ness.
Honestly, not sure why they started Kleber. Lively played well in the preseason. He’s an actual rim protector/rim runner as well. I thought Duke used him poorly last year. The fact they have him learning from Tyson Chandler is also a good thing.
Kidd said to help him avoid early faults. Tbh, if he’s gonna play 30’ a night and still ENDING the game, im cool with it, though i would like to try him starting and see if he can avoid early faults
Without Lively playing for us tonight. We don’t win, simple as that! We found our big man Mavs nation!
The one putback dunk he had was nuts
His roll in timing and defensive positioning is significantly better than what he displayed at Duke, what the hell.
God we have needed a defender / lob threat for so long, im so fucking glad they didn’t try for ayton. Nico redemption tour inc?