Playing in the American Airlines Center in front of thousands of Mavs fans, the Thunder seemed to have no answer for Luka Doncic and Co. in Game 3. So, in a desperate attempt to break Dallas’ rhythm and steal a win on the road, Mark Daigneault tried the Hack-a-Lively strategy on Dereck Lively II. Initially shying away from the challenge and running around to avoid getting fouled, the rookie stepped up during the crunch time and ruined OKC’s master plan. Later, he revealed two major reasons, one being his beloved mother’s voice, to get things going in his favor.

Happy after the big win at home, Dereck revealed that it was Kyrie Irving’s words during the game that helped him change his approach toward OKC’s hacking strategy, “My teammates were just like why the h*ll you running? Just stay there, knock them in.”

Even Kyrie, during the postgame presser, revealed the motivational words he gave to Lively on the bench, “We came back to the bench and I was like ‘man you don’t have to do all that, just let them foul you, accept it, take it as a compliment, and go up there and knock down your free throw'”.

“‘We believe in you’,” Irving concluded. And Lively did exactly that after he got a confidence boost from his teammates, knocking down eight of his twelve free throw attempts during the game, five of which came after OKC intentionally fouled him four times during the final quarter.

Although an awful 50% shooter from the charity stripes in the regular season, Lively did not let his stats define his performance tonight. And surprisingly, eight of his twelve points of the game came from the free-throw line.

“Mama got me”: Dereck Lively II had someone watching over him

When asked what made Lively believe in himself and take on OKC, he revealed, “I know my mama got me. She watching me. I know she telling me to make the damn free throws, so I gotta step up and make them.” A big influence on Dereck’s life, his mother, Kathy Drysdale, passed away last month after a decade-long battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Also his first coach and a legendary basketball college player herself, Kathy had the same competitive mindset as other athletes in the NBA. So, Dereck understood that his mother would have wanted him to take up the challenge rather than shying away from it.

After all, Kathy was the one who introduced Dereck to the game of basketball and she once even kicked him out of the gym after he repeatedly kept missing free throws during a shooting drill. In an interview held last year, Dereck recalled the incident, “She’s thrown me out of the gym before. The only coach to throw me out of the gym.” So, tonight, watching her son drain multiple free throws under pressure, Kathy would be proud watching from above.

Even Kyrie Irving, the one who motivated Lively mid-game, was filled with pride for the rookie and claimed that he showed a lot of poise by draining the clutch free throws. Like he did in the last series against the Clippers, by averaging nearly nine points and more importantly, over six rebounds, Lively can prove to be a huge asset for the Mavs going forward. With four games remaining in this series, his contribution and newfound confidence can prove key to his team’s success.

And hopefully, Lively will be able to take this confidence to the next game and produce the same outcome as he did tonight.