During Monday night’s thrilling 16-point comeback win over the Orlando Magic, Dallas Mavericks rookie big man Dereck Lively II — who will be participating in the 2024 NBA Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend — had a great game, putting up 20 points on 8-9 shooting to go with 11 rebounds, one steal and one block.
Those 20 points didn’t come easy for Lively, however, as he was smacked in the face by Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. with 2:03 left in the fourth quarter while attempting to score. The blow left Lively face down on the floor with a bloody nose that he had to have plugged.
The play was deemed a Flagrant 1 foul, and since there was a shooting foul on top of that, Lively got a rare opportunity of shooting four free throws to make three. With the Mavs down 119-118, Lively hit two of the four attempts to give his team the lead for good.
After the game, Carter reached out to Lively on X, formerly known as Twitter, to apologize for the inadvertent contact: “My bad bro! Hate seeing players hurt, especially when it was my fault.”
Lively responded in good humor: “All good just lookin like Pinocchio over here.” This then prompted Luka Doncic to join the conversation where he took credit for giving Lively that nickname.
Luckily, Lively didn’t sustain a major injury from the incident, and it’s good to see that all parties involved are showing good sportsmanship after the fact. The Mavs will be back in action on Wednesday night when they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road.
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