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

[Knutsen]

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.

I don’t have a strong opinion on that specific point, because I can’t really tell if the team benefited in this series by having Lively end games in place of Maxi or not. Has Lively lost us game 1 or game 4 in the end or would we have lost those two with Maxi as well? And how would the PJ and Kleber lineup stack up against this particular opponent, would Chet be able to dominate the boards and give them second chances and limit us to one shot? Would Maxi be able to shut down the paint and make life as miserable as possible for SGA like Lively did in game 5? I have no idea. 

In the long term the team will definitely benefit from it because it further speeds up Lively‘s maturation, him being able to knock down those crucial crunchtime free throws for example.