NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 13, 2024

Dereck Lively II

Dallas Mavericks

Practice Day

Q. How do you manage emotions, being in this difficult spot but at the same time believing something that people can only dream of, maybe your dream of a lifetime?

DERECK LIVELY II: It comes down to just being mature about it. You're in a very high-intensity, very high emotional state in this environment, playing in the Finals. Got a lot of people looking at you, a lot of eyes on you. But all you've got to do is just tune that out, focus on what you can control, how much energy you put in, how much effort you're going to put in, how much you're talking, how much you care about the situation.

Q. What's the thing that's surprised you the most about playing in the NBA Finals?

DERECK LIVELY II: I kind of forget how big the nation really is. Hearing people from Washington, from Florida, Maine, California, affecting lives, affecting people who I've never met, who I've never laid eyes on. It just makes you kind of walk with a certain light.

Q. Amongst teammates, what kinds of conversations do you have with each other just after a game, and what do you take away from that game? You guys were almost able to overcome a 21-point deficit in that fourth quarter.

DERECK LIVELY II: Just understanding the mistakes that we've made. Understanding what we did, understanding what we need to do in those moments and just understanding what each and every one of us are thinking. We can't all be on different pages when we're on the floor.

We've got to understand. We've got to be one. We've got to understand what each and every one of us is thinking, what we're trying to achieve, what we're trying to do in each possession.

Q. How was the practice today after the game last night?

DERECK LIVELY II: It was a lot of film. It was a lot of recognition. It was a lot of just talking, understanding we're trying to be on the same page. This is our first NBA Finals for a lot of us, and it's just making sure that we are together.

It's going to be the whole world looking at you, the whole world talking bad on us, no matter where you look, no matter if it's on your phone, billboards or just talking to someone down the street. It's just trying to be able to understand that we've all got each other's backs. We're all learning from one another. We're learning from the situation, and we're trying to become better people and better players.

Q. After nights like yesterday, when is the moment that you switch? What do you do or how do you change your mind from yesterday going into today?

DERECK LIVELY II: Just understanding where you are. We're down 3-0. But just because we're down 3-0, it's not finished. It's only going to come down to us putting all we can on the floor. Our heart, our soul. Just trying to come out and win little battles because that's what's going to get us the game, winning the 50/50 balls, winning the rebounding game, winning the transition game and then just trying to stop them from what they're trying to do.

We're trying to make them play into our game, but we're trying to understand what our game is because we're not on the same page.

Q. In the film session, what did you see in terms of the fouls?

DERECK LIVELY II: I mean, we can't sit here and be like, the ref did this, the ref did that. We can't control that. What we can control is the positions that we're putting ourselves in to get those fouls, understanding that if we're talking and we're getting mad at the referees, they're going to end up -- they're going to get the last laugh.

We've got to be able to just be mature, be able to move on from whatever play, whatever call they're going to make on the floor because we're not able to control that. What we're able to do is focus on our reaction to those calls.