NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 8, 2024

Dereck Lively II

Dallas Mavericks

Practice Day

Q. What did you see on film and what's your mentality going into Game 2?

DERECK LIVELY II: Just making sure we make them uncomfortable from the jump. I feel like Game 1 we eased into the game when we shouldn't have. We should have came out and threw the first punch instead of taking the first punch. They are a great-shooting team, and we just have to be able to get them off their spots and force them into our defense.

Q. This team has responded from poor performances in Game 1 before. Why do you think that is? What's the personality of this team?

DERECK LIVELY: Adapt. Learn. As I said before, if we are the same person we were yesterday, then we aren't getting better. Everybody here wants to the right thing and everything we can possibly do to win. That's what everybody on the team needs to do so we can get a championship.

Q. What's the key to getting the lobs back into the offense?

DERECK LIVELY II: It's playing our game of basketball and not going into the game that they want us to play. Playing our game of pick-and-roll. Getting out in pace, getting in space and making them overhelp so we can get open shots and we can get people open.

Q. How big are those plays emotionally?

DERECK LIVELY II: I feel like it's definitely big plays, whether it's a dunk or three ball. As long as our team is together, we are cheering, yelling, connected, it definitely makes other teams question what they are going to do or question their schemes.

Q. Gafford said throughout the playoffs, you guys sit together for film with the coaches. What are lessons you've learned in the playoffs and what do you expect to work on before tomorrow?

DERECK LIVELY II: Our footwork. Our placing of knowing where our positioning is on the defensive side, no matter if it's setting them down, us being low, not being late on coverages and calling out coverages early so they can't get easy pick-and-pop threes. It's been a lot of fail and learn, fail and get a little bit better. We are not going to get better at all if we don't learn from our mistakes.

Q. What did you learn about Porzingis in Game 1 that will help in Game 2?

DERECK LIVELY II: We have to get up into them. We can't let him just post up, get the ball at the top of the key and just lace it down because he is going to shoot over the top. It's going to be trying to make sure that we get him off of his stops. Get him one or two feet away from his normal spots so he's a little more uncomfortable.

Q. Any communication with Tyson Chandler?

DERECK LIVELY II: All he says is keep your head down and stick to the grind. There's not a lot of things he can do all the way back in Dallas. All he's telling me to do is the little things, whether that's hitting them on the box-out or being able to talk to my teammates on the back side. Just doing the little things so that everybody is connected on the court so that we are not leaving everybody behind.

Q. P.J. talked about how huge that third-quarter start was for your confidence. Did you feel that way?

DERECK LIVELY II: For sure. I feel like everybody in the first half, everybody is thinking, they can shoot, they can shoot. Whenever we can come out and show that we can defend, we can get them off the three-point line, then it's a different game.

Q. You all seem very loose out here. There's no panic in this team, right?

DERECK LIVELY: I feel like it's not panic. It's more urgency of getting the job done.