Mavs rookie Dereck Lively II is attending to expertise the NBA Finals in his maiden 12 months and he’s getting some assist from 2011 Dallas championship-winner Tyson Chandler, Yahoo Sports‘ Jake Fischer revealed.
“When Lively returned to the Mavericks’ locker room Thursday night, his phone had already been pinged by former Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler,” Fischer mentioned. “Reminders to keep his head down, to stick to the grind. ‘Text messages,’ Lively said. ‘I suck at phone calls.’ Chandler, once the tremendous paint presence who anchored Dallas’ last championship in 2011, has been part of the franchise in some capacity throughout his retirement, a common theme among former players during Mark Cuban’s tenure owning the organization. Before home games, you’ll see Chandler, a bright orange hat flipped backwards, leaning his own massive frame against Lively in the paint.”
Chandler wasn’t current for Game 1 in Boston, however made positive to maintain motivating Lively at such an important time.
“All he’s telling me to do is the little things, no matter if that’s hitting them on the box-out or being able to talk to my teammates on the backside,” Lively mentioned. “Just doing the little things so that everybody is connected on the court, so we’re not leaving anybody behind.”
Lively performed out of his pores and skin within the Western Conference Finals towards the Timberwolves, the place he averaged 9.5 factors and seven.8 rebounds per recreation in 21.9 minutes.
He additionally made every of 16 area aim makes an attempt, surpassing Chris Andersen’s report of probably the most area aim made in a playoffs sequence with out a miss.
With the vast majority of the Mavs’ core being 25 years of age or underneath, the long run in Dallas definitely seems to be vibrant.
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