Lively doubtful for Game 4 against Timberwolves; Kleber upgraded

The Dallas Mavericks have listed rookie center Dereck Lively II as doubtful for Game 4 of their Western Conference Finals series against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a sprained neck.

Lively was injured early in the second quarter of Game 3 of this best-of-seven series on Sunday when the back of his head inadvertently collided with the right knee of Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns as Lively was falling on the court. Lively laid on the floor for over five minutes before he walked to the locker room with some assistant from teammate Markieff Morris.

Meanwhile, center Maxi Kleber has been upgraded from out to questionable for Game 4 on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center. Kleber hasn’t played since suffering a right shoulder AC separation on May 3 in the Mavs’ Game 6 close-out win over the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round.

Whenever an injury, illness, etc., has prevented one of their players from playing, the Mavs have always used the next-man-up mentality to fill the void. In this case, Dwight Powell stepped up in Lively’s absence on Sunday and collected two points, two rebounds and a steal in eight minutes of action.

Starting center Daniel Gafford and Lively nearly mirror one another and have almost split up the center duties since the Mavs acquired the former in a trade with the Washington Wizards on Feb. 8. But with Lively possibly sidelined, Gafford will likely play more in Game 4 than the 23.7 minutes he’s averaging in this series.

“It was tough just to see him go down the way he did, because it sucks getting hit in the back of the head,” Gafford said. “It sucks getting hit to where your neck hurts. That’s a dangerous spot to be getting hit.”

Gafford played 29 minutes on Sunday and finished with five points, three rebounds and three blocks. That’s the most minutes he’s played during this year’s playoff run by the Mavs.

Lively, meanwhile, has been instrumental in helping Gafford battle the Timberwolves’ three-headed monsters at the center position – Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid and Towns – in this series, which the Mavs lead, 3-0. So, to watch the rookie from Duke needing help just to get to the locker room disheartened Gafford.

“Seeing him walk off, I was, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be a battle,’ because as physical as they were with us, we were physical back,“ Gafford said. “We had to make sure we took that next step up physically and have some type of boost when it came to the energy, and that’s something I feel like we did.”

While not knowing if Lively will be able to play in Game 4, forward Derrick Jones Jr. tried to put his injury in its proper perspective.

“It’s a next-man up league,” Jones said after Monday’s practice. “I mean, it’s sad to say it. We never want anybody to go down.

“D-live knows we’re here and we’re going to hold them down. We got his back through everything, and we’re waiting for him to get back.”

Lively is averaging 9.7 points and 7.7 rebounds, and is a perfect 13-for-13 from the field in this series against.

Here are some more nuggets surrounding Game 4 between the Mavs and Timberwolves.

*The winner of the Mavs-Timberwolves series will meet the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. With Monday’s 105-102 road win over Indiana, the Celtics completed a clean 4-0 sweep of the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Game 1 of the NBA Finals be in Boston on June 6. The Celtics are 12-2 in the playoffs this year.

*The Mavs won Game 3, 116-107, on Sunday mainly because they dominated the last five minutes. Minnesota led 104-102, with under five minutes remaining in the game. After that, the Mavs scored 14 points, were 5-of-5 from the field and 1-of-1 from three-point range. During that same time frame, the Timberwolves tallied just three points and converted 1-of-8 field goals and missed all four of their three-point shots. That’s the fewest points scored in the last five minutes of a regulation game in a conference finals since Cleveland scored three points in a game during the 2015 East finals against the Atlanta Hawks.

*Mavs guards Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving combined to personally outscore the Timberwolves, 21-20, in the fourth quarter of Game 3. Irving scored 14 points in the fourth quarter and was 5-of-7 from the field, while Dončić had seven points and was 3-of-3 from the field. On the flip side, the Timberwolves were 9-of-20 from the floor in the fourth quarter, including just 1-of-8 from downtown.

*Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns has struggled mightily in this series. In the first three games against the Mavs, Towns has averaged 15 ppg and 8.3 rpg while shooting an anemic 27.8 percent from the field and a puny 13.6 percent from three-point land. Towns missed all eight of his three-point attempts in Game 3 and is only 3-of-22 from beyond the three-point arc in this series.

*In his career, Mavs guard Kyrie Irving is a perfect 14-0 in potential close-out games. Irving also leads the NBA in fourth quarter scoring over the last two seasons – the regular season and playoffs – with 8.4 ppg.

*With the 33 points each of them scored in Game 3, Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving have each scored at least 30 points in two of the three games in this series. Dončić (33 points) and Irving (30 points) also scored at least 30 points during the Mavs’ 108-105 victory in Game 1. In addition, Dončić (33 points) and Irving (31 points) tallied at least 30 points during the Mavs’ 109-97 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 1 of that first-round series. Overall, this is the first time a starting backcourt has scored at least 30 points in the same game three times in a postseason in the past 50 years.

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (0-3) at DALLAS MAVERICKS (3-0)

When: 7:30 p.m., Tuesday

Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas

TV: TNT

Radio: KEGL 97.1 FM The Eagle; 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish)

X: @DwainPrice