2024 Playoffs- 2nd Round: Oklahoma City Thunder - Dallas Mavericks- MAVS WIN 4-2!

[KillerLeft]

To add to your point, I think the untimely injury to Maxi was a blessing in disguise for the development of Lively, because I’m quite sure that Kidd would have gone with PJ at the four and Kleber at the five in the fourth quarter to finish the games. Simply because he trusts him more because he‘s been in that situation oftentimes. Now Kidd was forced to go with Lively and I think he and we as a team benefited greatly from it.

I agree that LIVELY has benefited from Kleber's injury due to an increase in high-leverage playoff minutes, but I think the team would've won the series in 5 (possibly even 4) if that Kleber/Washington lineup was available to use. It's the best thing the Mavs had going down the stretch, and that's honestly not very debatable.