Dereck Lively II back ‘around my family’ after loss of his mother

LOS ANGELES – When a reporter asked Dereck Lively II his thoughts on being back around his teammates, the Dallas Mavericks’ rookie center wasted no time delivering a succinct answer.

“Man, I ain’t around my teammates,” Lively said. “I’m around my family.

“There’s really been a lot going on in my life. There’s been a lot of chaos, a lot of things going on, and this is the only place where I can come to bond.”

Until he played 19 minutes Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers during Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs, Lively had been sidelined since he sprained his right knee March 31 against the Houston Rockets. Even more important, Lively’s mother, Kathy Drysdale, died of cancer on April 12 at the age of 53.

Speaking with reporters following Monday’s practice on trying to continue with his basketball career while also mourning the loss of his mom, Lively said: “Man, it’s hard, man. It’s hard being able to just try to not move on, but kind of just not act like nothing happened.

“But you got to be able to keep it moving. That’s kind of what my mom would want me to do. That’s kind of what she was doing throughout the whole time.”

Drysdale had battled cancer since 2013. After she passed, Lively turned to social media and wrote: “My heart breaks saying goodbye to the most important person in the world to me, my superhero, my biggest cheerleader and mom, Kathy Drysdale. There is no one in this world that can love you more than your mother. As strong and stubborn as she is I have watched her struggle, fight and survive cancer for the past 11 years and now her battle has ended.”

Mavs coach Jason Kidd has talked about the strength Lively has exhibited during one of the most trying times of his life. Especially his ability to carefully compartmentalize important factors of his life.

Said Kidd: “I think when you talk about D-Live and his ability to learn, to go through different experiences, different life experiences that we all know that he’s going through right now, just to absorb that and to learn from that, and that’s what that young man has done all season is learn what the NBA is all about and has played for us at a high level and we’re going to need him in Game 2 to do that for us.”

A very passionate and mature 20-year old, Lively took it upon himself to talk to his teammates about what he was experiencing on the day his mother died. And Monday was the first time he spoke publicly about his mom’s passing.

“I just wanted to make sure my teammates knew what was going on, because there definitely was a change in my character, a change in what’s been going on in my head,” Lively said. “There’s times when I’m not as joyous, I’m not as loud, I’m not (laughing as much), I’m not as dancing and doing all those things, because there’s a lot of things going on in my head.

“There’s a lot of things that’s going on off the court that makes it hard to focus on the court. But whenever I get on the court it just seems like everything goes quiet and I can finally come back and have a moment with myself and I don’t have to worry about anyone talking to me and telling me what to do.”

Lively also discussed the Mavs’ game in Los Angeles against the Lakers on Nov. 22 when he fell hard on the court and had to be helped to the locker room after a collision with Lakers center Anthony Davis. Lively suffered a lower back contusion on the play.

On the Mavs’ next trip to Los Angeles to play the Lakers on Jan. 17, Lively said: “Honestly, I remember when we came in through the buses, I’m like, ‘Wow, I remember I couldn’t even walk up that little ramp to get out here.’

“It makes it seems like the season has been so long. But it really hasn’t, because to me it feels like that was years ago, but it was only a couple of months ago.”

Meanwhile, when Game 2 between the Mavs and Clippers tips off Tuesday at 9 p.m. Dallas time at Crypto.com Arena, Lively is hoping the Mavs won’t have the difficult start they had in Game 1 when they fell behind 36-24 after the first quarter and 56-30 at halftime.

“Instead of taking the first punch, throw the first punch,” Lively said, when asked what the Mavs must accomplish in Game 2. “Go out there and be able to make sure that we’re going to be the aggressor, we’re going to be the more discipline defensive rotation (team), more defensive talk (team) and be able to execute when it comes to the offensive end.

“There’s going to be mistakes throughout the game – you can’t change that. But we got to make sure that we can limit those mistakes and we can be able to benefit off of theirs.”

As he digs his sneakers into comfortably getting back into the center rotation with Daniel Gafford and Maxi Kleber, Lively is resolute on his lot in life as an NBA player.

“People think that there’s a lot of eyes on us,” he said. “There’s always a lot of eyes on us. There’s always a lot of pressure on us. But we’re playing basketball.

“So, when it comes down to things, we’re playing the game that I’ve loved since I was a kid. Whenever I’ve dribbled a basketball, I can trust that it’s going to come back up. Just like I know whenever I talk to my teammates, I know that I’m going to get the same energy from them.”

That same energy, Lively said, is what he always got from his mom. She knew he had the ability to go out and conquer the world.

“No matter what was going on, no matter how she felt, she always kept it pushing,” Lively said. “My mom was on her death bed, and she shrugged her shoulders and was acting like nothing was happening.

“She said: ‘I’m fine. I’m staying here. I ain’t going nowhere.’ So just being able to see that attitude makes me realize, ‘Alright, I’ve got to continue it.’ She passed the torch on to me, and I’ve got to carry it now.”

X: @DwainPrice