The Dallas Mavericks are just one win away from reaching the 2024 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. Ahead of their Game 5 matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves, they received some great news regarding rookie big man Dereck Lively II, who has played a big part in the series.
In the first two games of the series, Lively shot 10-10 from the field. He also did all the little things for the team, recording 9 rebounds in Game 1 and 11 rebounds in Game 2.
In Game 3 of the series, Lively suffered a neck injury that forced him to miss the majority of that game, along with Game 4 of the series.
Luckily, it looks like Lively will be good to go after completing the shootaround ahead of Game 5 on Thursday afternoon. He was officially listed as questionable for the game, but has now been cleared to play in the important matchup.
After taking a 3-0 series lead, the Mavericks dropped Game 4 of the series. And it’s hard not to point to Lively’s absence as a clear reason as to why.
If you are the Mavericks, you obviously want to end this series as soon as possible before the Timberwolves gain some momentum. So Lively’s return to the court couldn’t have come at a better time.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.