Dereck Lively II looks like the piece the Mavericks need to steady a defense that was exposed on opening night.
Dallas opened its season Wednesday by getting carved up by the Houston Rockets, who poured in 128 points and made life miserable for the Mavericks on both ends. The second quarter was especially rough, with Houston finding easy buckets against Dallas’ man-to-man looks while the Mavericks struggled to generate offense of their own. It was the kind of opener that put a spotlight on a lot of things Dallas cannot afford to shrug off after losing 56 games last season.
The damage showed up in plenty of ways. Houston grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and turned them into 22 second-chance points.
The Rockets also moved the ball well and knocked down 44 percent of their 3-point tries. Dallas had little success slowing down Kevin Durant and company, and the defense never really settled in.
Scheme was part of the problem. The Mavericks started with man-to-man defense, and it held up in the first quarter before unraveling in the second.
Players lost track of assignments, and later, after Dusty May and his staff turned to a zone, Houston still found ways through. The breakdowns were not just tactical, either.
Dallas also had communication issues, looking out of sync at times and leaving the paint exposed whenever someone was beaten off the dribble.
That’s where Lively comes in.
When healthy, he is Dallas’ best center and a huge reason the team was able to defend at a high level during its run to the 2024 NBA Finals. His value goes beyond shot blocking.
Lively brings a vocal presence that helps organize everything around him. He points out cutters, directs teammates into place and keeps talking while still staying in position to protect the rim.
At 7-foot-1, he gives the Mavericks the kind of interior presence they badly missed Wednesday. If a perimeter defender gets beat, Lively is the safety net behind it.
He can absorb contact at the rim, rotate over, and change how opponents attack the paint. That alone forces offenses to think twice.
He also brings more versatility than people sometimes give him credit for. Lively can switch quickly, defend in space and handle both drop and switch coverages in pick-and-roll situations. That flexibility would have mattered against Houston, where Dallas clearly needed more help as the game slipped away.
Since being drafted in 2023, Lively has been one of the Mavericks’ most important defensive players. When he’s back, the paint defense should look a lot sturdier, and some of the problems that showed up on opening night could disappear with him back anchoring the middle.
In Other News...
Spurs May Have Found Something Mavericks Fans Wont Like
San Antonio finally looked like a team that had found some footing, and it came at Dallas expense on a night when the Spurs were searching for their first win of the 2026-27 season. The energy level was different from their opening two losses, with head coach Mitch Johnson pointing to a sharper collective effort and a more consistent approach as the foundation for the turnaround.
For Mavericks fans, the frustrating part is that the Spurs did not stumble into this one, they seemed to earn it by doing the little things better. Johnson liked the way his team hustled, rebounded and defended, and he sounded convinced there is more to build on from here, which makes this feel less like a one-off and more like the first sign of a team finding its identity. [Read more 🡒]
Mavericks Just Took Another Ugly Step In The Wrong Direction
The Mavericks latest stumble came at the hands of a Spurs team that looked more composed when the game tightened, and the result only deepened the sense that Dallas is searching for answers. San Antonios 122-106 win was built around Victor Wembanyama, who led all scorers with 23 points to go with seven rebounds and four blocks, while Dylan Harper and DeAaron Fox gave the Spurs steady production in the backcourt.
For Dallas, the frustrating part was not just the final margin but how the game slipped away once San Antonio started to settle in. The Spurs finished with a strong defensive push in the closing stretch, and the Mavericks were left trying to recover from another night in which the effort to keep pace never quite matched the urgency needed to turn the game around. [Read more 🡒]
Mavericks Suddenly Look Far Better Equipped Behind Kyrie Irving
The Mavericks entered the season with a clear question behind Kyrie Irving, and the early answer has at least looked more encouraging than expected. Dallas has added Walter Clayton Jr. and leaned on Sergio De Larrea and Marcus Sasser to stabilize the point guard minutes, giving the backcourt a different kind of energy and, more importantly, some real production off the bench.
De Larrea offered the loudest reminder in a recent game against the Spurs, flashing scoring touch and playmaking in a strong all-around effort. Sasser has also given Dallas useful minutes through the first few games, and together the two have helped the Mavericks look far better equipped in the spots where they were once most vulnerable. The bigger question now is whether that depth holds when the schedule gets tougher and the rotation tightens. [Read more 🡒]