Mavericks rookie center Dereck Lively is listed as questionable to play tonight in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News tweets.
Lively missed Game 4 on Tuesday, when the Timberwolves staved off elimination. He suffered a neck sprain in Game 3 on Sunday.
Lively was injured during the second quarter when he fell backward in the lane and was inadvertently kneed in the head by Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns.
On the “Run It Back” program (video link), The Athletic’s Shams Charania said Lively will be a game-time decision, adding “it’s really trending toward a 50/50 chance that he plays.”
When healthy, Lively has been extremely effective in the postseason, knocking down all 13 of his field goal attempts in the series. He had a 14-point, nine-rebound outing in Game 2.
Coinciding with Lively’s absence, Mavs big man Maxi Kleber returned to action in Game 4. After being sidelined since May 3 due to a shoulder injury, Kleber played 13 minutes on Tuesday, contributing two points, one rebound and one assist.
Luka Doncic, as he has often been, is also listed as questionable for Game 5 due to knee and ankle ailments. However, Doncic — who posted a triple-double in 41 minutes on Tuesday — has yet to miss a game during this postseason.
Dallas needs him. He was able to stop the double teams and get easy baskets. Reason they lost game 4.
Doncic and Irving’s bad shooting night cost them game 4. Maybe Lively could have pulled them out of the fire, but his absence wasn’t the reason they lost.
And ppl say KAT don’t impact the series smdh…
It was a bad look for them to throw a hurting kleber in there. Should’ve rolled the dice on dwight’s layup line.. Still should.
I’ll take a bum shoulder kleber over Dwight
Rest another gm. It’s best for him and team. Only one gm.