3 Studs, 2 duds from Mavericks' crucial Game 2 win over Thunder

4. Dud - Dereck Lively II

After the Dallas Mavericks' Game 1 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Luka Doncic talked about how both Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford were playing too reserved. He touched on how both players needed to finish strong at the rim with dunks, especially when Chet Holmgren isn't under the rim, and Daniel Gafford understood the assignment to an extent.

He was attacking fearlessly and getting to the free-throw line often, but Lively II was not great in this game. Lively II finished with two points while shooting 1-7 from the field, and he was extremely inefficient while trying to score at the rim.

Lively II did have some bad angles when trying to score at the rim, but he looked out of control on most of his attempts. He would get too far under the rim to finish, and he didn't attempt to even finish above the rim outside of his alley-oop finish and the dunk attempt that was blocked by Holmgren.

Lively II's struggles in this series are a complete change from how he played in their first series against the LA Clippers, and there were even points in that series where he looked like he should have been the starter over Gafford.

The Mavs will need Lively II to improve as this series goes on considering how much he is playing, and his next opportunity to put together a big performance is on Saturday.