Dallas Mavericks’ Dereck Lively II Interview Before NBA Finals vs Boston Celtics

Dallas Mavericks’ Dereck Lively II Interview Before NBA Finals vs Boston Celtics

how’s everyone doing today do love hearing love hear great Derek when you dream this moment as a child how does reality compare it just doesn’t you know uh the feeling of being able to win the feeling to be able to go through hardship the feeling of being able to enjoy this moment with your teammates with your family being able to know there’s a lot of there a lot of time the amount of days that you stack to be able to get to this moment you know you dream of it and to being able to be in the finals is something that I didn’t expect myself to be a part of for for a very long time so just being able to do this in my first year I just want to be able to learn as much as I possibly can and grow as much as I possibly can derck what have you personally learned about yourself through this playoff run I know you you’ve been through a lot and you’ve talked a lot about how your teammates have been able to help you through that what have you learned about yourself throughout this whole postseason run um you know I feel like my mom always uh always kind of said this but you know my way is the hardest way you know we’re not going to take the easy way out we’re not going to cry if uh if things are going our way or it seems like it be stacked against us we just got to be able to H huddle together as a family being able to lean on each other know there’s a lot of times where you know it might seem like the world’s against you or it might seem like you know you look in the mirror and you ain’t see the same person but whenever you come in here and you’re able to smile with your teammates being able to laugh at your teammates being able to enjoy time with your teammates it just being it makes everything outside of outside of the basketball world that much easier what what have you thought of Coach kids stewardship if you will on the this process is your first NBA coach so you don’t have much to compare it to but what’s it been like for you playing for him you know I feel like he’s been one of the best coaches I’ve ever had you know he’s putting me in positions where you know he’s expecting me to fail and even if I fail he’s going to lead me in there to learn you know I feel like you know his coaching style fits me very well you know he’s walking into the locker room and then asking so what do we think being able to have a coach like that who’s going to make the players speak May players talk to one another and then say what he thinks is an amazing process you know we able to talk to one another about what we think we need to do together as a team and then whenever the staff comes in they bring in their own life what they see from the court because players and coaches see the game two different ways and we’re just able to help each other you know I feel like coach kid is definitely has definitely you know there’s been a lot of criticism around him but I don’t understand why and I feel he’s an amazing coach and amazing person what are some of the ways of ping Chanel has help you become a player you are today being able to be mentally tough you know being able to know that you know I look at him and I see myself plus 20 25 years and seeing someone who has been in my position who has been in the seat who has played in the championship who has gotten the championship being able to guide me it makes be that much more confident in who I am knowing that he has my back he’s confident in me makes me want to go out in the and just play with that much more aggression what does this Boston team differently as a threat compared to that of Clippers th you know I feel like there was an amazing team you know they’ve been on top one top three teams in the league the entire year you know they they can shoot they can shoot the out of a ball you know one through five they’re an amazing team they can space the floor they can get to the rim they have a lot of they have a lot of weapons that they can use floor so just going to be able to try to be able to understand when they’re going to use their weapons and when we can try to use their weapon against them I’m sure you’re familiar with the history of Chris stops here uh what what do you think about the match up with him and Al Horford as well uh it’s basketball man you know the media is going to try to turn into you know they going to look at Kristoff they going look at Kai they’re going to try to turn into something but we’re going to go out there in this play you know there’s a lot of things that a lot of tensions that’s going on the floor a lot of tensions that’s going on lock room but it doesn’t matter to us we’re focused on going out there and getting four wins in a row not four wins in a row but four wins stack them and being able to know that there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs there going to be a lot of people things and we got to be able to stick together with POS the talk and be able to have each other’s back I think most of us have seen the the photo of the team photo on the plane uh was like playe right back like or discussion um it was an interesting playing right back you know it was very High Spirit very High Spirits uh in the plane but you know we were traving in the thunderstor you know where would have just lean on each other where would to have fun even in the moments where we’re kind of like we going to make it B but you know uh it was a it was a great time you know everybody was leaning on each other everyone was talking to each other you know people in the front of the plane people talking to people in the back of the plane so it was just everybody from the flight through is to the pilot everybody was happy and we even had fans that were waiting out in the rain at 2:3 in the morning being able to have people like that back you up just makes you want to go out there even harder did you envision yourself having this kind of impact in your rookie year based on what you’ve done and what was the vision that this staff had for you going into this season I don’t think any of us expected this I ain’t expect this my mom ain’t expect this Tyson ain’t expect this Jason kid Ain expect this and they just they they expect me to come in come to the Dallas Mavericks and learn I like that’s what I did you know I don’t think they expect me to learn this much this quick and I think I’ve been able to be very fortunate for them to put me in position to learn you know there’s been into a lot of times where I was unsure of play calls unsure of positions I’m sort of of different things but I’ve been able to Lear lean on my team you know they back me up they understand that I’m rookie they understand that I haven’t been in this situation before but you know I’m going fake it till I make it you’re perfect from the of the Western Conference fins what do youbute that to what does that say about I’m saying you know I tribute that to to have an angel on my shoulder you know I feel like she helped me out there making my dunks making my little hooks some free throws and just being able to just be a voice in the court you know I feel like I can definitely tribute that 16 to 16 mother I know Maris doesn’t play a lot but talk about the leadership he had provide this man I feel like you know every time you look in the court you see Jason kid standing up and Keith’s back talking talking everybody in the floor even the other team it doesn’t matter it doesn’t matter what’s going on the going on in the floor keeps thinking about the next play the right play or the right lineup and there’s a lot of times where we can look at each other and we know if someone’s having an off game we know if if someone ain’t making some shots we’re going to have to pick them up and the first person to pick him up is Keith you know he’s the first he’s first person off the floor first person to dab you up after making a good play but he’s the first person to pick you up to make a back play being able to have someone like that is is amazing you know he’s been in many different positions he’s been in many different teams so he has a lot of different looks on what the NBA has and I definitely learned a lot from him and he’s taught me a lot Dereck how are you feeling from a health standpoint I’m great little left right I’m great you know everyone’s going to ask everyone’s been asking for the past couple of days all right you know if I’m going to get hit in the head another three four times I’m still get back up and act nothing Happ Derek are you surprised as and the way the it’s almost like symbiotic the relationship with you and G and how and how that works like when when he was acquired he clear you were started what was your feeling about that you know I’m here to win games I’m not here to care about how many points I put on the board how many rebounds I put on the board how many times I start in the game and it’s the same way you know I feel like we have a great onew Dynamic of picking each other up no matter if I’m having a bad game he’s having a bad game or if we’re both having a good game we’re going to pick each other up no matter what’s going on you know being able to have both of us coming out there setting screens getting lobs throwing elbows catching rebounds it’s it makes our teammates trust us since we got the paint they know that they got to lock down the three-point line perimeter and if they don’t they’re just going to send them to us and having that trust of okay if we ain’t got them our days got did it work I mean did it work out even better maybe you than you thought it would for sure I feel like me and gafford’s dynamic is amazing you know I feel like I look at him as a as an older brother you know I’ve leaned on him many times understanding the different schemes in the game understanding different points when it make a push when it be it would it take care of the ball and just understanding the flow of the game Derek there’s been a special group of kids that have shown you support this entire season Bry Cohen you know she’s an amazing teacher I love everybody a part of that school part of that class you’ve talked so much about how much you care about the Next Generation and I don’t know if you’ve seen their videos on Twitter I’m sure that you have of when they’re you know reenacting your dunks or just following up with the game the next day you could just tell that class anything about the support that they’ve shown in this season what would it be they know I love them they know they know that for sure you know no matter if they had eliminat stand I drove like 45 minutes out and I almost got there late but I was just trying to make sure that I can do whatever I can to make an impact in a kid’s life because you know I feel like whenever we’re young we have many dreams we have many aspirations and when we grow up we we lose those you know we lose sight of who we wanted to be uh what dreams we had as a kid and I feel like we should never lose those things those things kind of shape the person who you are and they shape the future who you can be so I’m just trying to be able to make sure that no matter if you’re 5 years old 10 years old 15 years old whatever you want to do whoever you want to be do your best to do it Derek as you mentioned Boston shoots a lot of Threes you know they have a tough five out offense how much progression do you think this defense has achieved guarding five out offenses it’s come down to a lot of talk and Trust communication and just trus in the next man behind you you know there going to be a lot of rotations a lot of scrambling going on but I feel like we’re going to be able to talk to each other and even if we mess up we’re going to move on to the next Play and Learn CU if we don’t learn then we shouldn’t be here D the trade deadline has been pointed to as a a turning point for this season uh you know with the talent in place um the pieces that came here and then the investment on defense but how does chemistry um how is that a key to the success that this team has going to the finals um it has a lot understanding people’s tempos understanding what they like to do what makes them uncomfortable but being able to uplift your teammates because you know what spots to put them in or you understand what Rhythm they like to get into uh it took me a little while to understand Kyrie and Lucas but whenever PJ and GAP here it was like they just picked up things you’re trying to do they hop right into the scheme you’re running and they fit like a perfect puzzle piece so being able to have that on on the floor off the floor we’re close we’re close that family you know we have we always try to lean on one another where we try to see one another and try to enjoy time with one another and that’s going to make us on the floor Tighter and more of a team and what have you learned about yourself um during this postseason Nails man um I don’t care what name what you do to me what you throw at me I hit the ground I’m going get back up guarding uming and Horford obviously two B what have you thought of your development moving your he space and guarding on the perimeter this season you know I feel like uh at the start of the Season it was a little shaky and throughout the middle of the Season it definitely a little shaky but when it comes down to those key moments and we have to sit down and guard I love it I love being in those moments your adrenaline’s pumping your your heart’s pumping and you just feel alive in those moments those moments where people try to break you down as a big and you sit in front of them it kind of makes you chuckle CU they look at you like oh you can move his feet but you know it’s definitely taking a a long long journey of being able to try to stay in front of people especially people who are as talented as they are in the leag what do you think is going to be your biggest challenge with placing being consistent no matter if they’re making a run no matter if we’re making a run we got to be able to have our foot on the gas no matter what’s going on on the floor no matter what’s going on and what they say in the stands we got to be able to be poised be focused and execute how much do you guys relish the RO because you were not favored in the preev series not fav series you know I feel like there’s a lot of there’s always we feel like there’s always someone Point down on us and we’re like okay cool you know you’re going to say that about us watch what we got to do next and we kind of just taking that to heart you know if people going to just label us as underdogs overrated or we can’t get things done we just kind of strug our shoulders you know I feel like we’ve all dealt with a lot of adversity in our life a lot of people telling us we can and I feel like that drives us whenever people tell us we can we want to do it a little bit more I think a lot of people forget that when the playoffs started you had played yeah actually Y and so your first game back you were talking about just getting used to the playoffs and getting your win back at what point of the playoffs did you kind of figure out hey man I can do this I can Embrace this that’s hard I feel like there’s different ways you now there’s a it’s an up and down type of mentality you know there’s a lot of things that’s going to go on you might have some games where you’re perfect from the floor and you might have games where you’re over for but it really comes down to whenever you’re making a defensive possession and you get a defensive stop and you push on offensive end you see everybody on your team take off at the same time when you’re in that same light together at that point it it doesn’t matter what is going on in the court doesn’t matter what you’re doing doesn’t matter how you how you’re doing it all when you’re going out there and you feel your teammates giving it their all you just want to give it your all so I feel like it was around like the Clippers series when we were in LA and I think we got that that first win whenever I felt my team riding behind me every step without a hitch that’s how I knew we were something special you had a chance to watch L before you became his teammate and one thing we constantly hear to is that he’s not a great play what do you say IDE he’s not he can hoop he can ho he might not be able with a windmill but you know he’s he’s one of the best players in the world and being able to say that about somebody is crazy knowing people are going to game plan for him people are going to double him and he still going to pick you apart being able to have someone on the team like that is amazing and there’s nothing you can compare that to uh last question I guess there’s a video of you uh circulating from Allstar Weekend interviewing Jason Tatum you know he’s given you advice on just your rookie season and now you’re facing him in a Celtics sem finals just what do that Moment Like For You especially you know the Duke connection there uh full circle you know I feel like uh I’ve seen him whenever I was back in college seen him before college and now going up against him as a he’s an amazing player they’re an amazing team it just it gives me I don’t even know what the words to say it gives me like Kens and E cuz I’m excited being able to go up against such a great team and being able to try to I know I’m going to fail but being able to adapt to the things that I’m feeling is something I’m looking forward to something I’m looking forward to is just going out there making a mistake learning and correcting that mistake in front of people and lastly you just mentioned failure a lot as like positive things so what’s your definition of success your game definition of success not being the same person you were yesterday being able to learn it might just be one little thing just being able to change one thing in your life I feel like that’s the slow progression that everybody needs take us through the L dunks and why are they so successful you guys got almost as many l CU all the other playoffs teams combined it’s just connection and chemistry just trusting he’s going to throw the ball at the right time in the right area and having the trust to know that I’m going to jump and go get it or G to jump and go get it you know there’s been times of practice where we mess up or the time it might be wrong but we’re going to do it again and again and again until we get it right you know I feel like that’s what we’ve done in throughout this entire season no matter if that’s on the defensive end of the off thing we’re going to rep it out as many times until we get it correct until we perfected

Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II spoke to reporters before Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics.

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