MINNEAPOLIS – The free-throw routine of Dereck Lively II is as simple as it is unique.
Get the ball. Line it up. Take the shot.
No dribbling. No arm-touching or ball-spinning. No extraneous body movement, like shoulder wiggles.
Just catch and shoot.
Lively’s free-throw shooting has become a source of pride for him and an asset for the Mavericks during their playoff run, which has landed them a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The spotlight turned onto Lively’s success at the stripe during the Oklahoma City series, when the Thunder resorted to intentionally fouling the 7-1 Lively in hopes that he would miss the free throws.
The strategy backfired, largely because Lively is consistent with his free-throw routine.
“I don’t do all that,” he said, referring to any unnecessary free-throw antics. “It (his routine) definitely started in the preseason to make sure I had my hand behind the ball instead of on top of the ball.
“I found when I had my hand on top of the ball, it was a shot put. I couldn’t have a consistent shot with it. But when I set it and get my hand in the pocket, it comes off the fingertips real nice.”
Lively worked with his skills coach, Chris Johnson, in Los Angeles last summer to streamline his process for shooting free throws.
He used to dribble twice, load it up and shoot. That was his routine at Duke last season. And in high school.
But . . .
“When I was in LA, we concentrated on free throws the majority of the summer coming into the predraft (camp),” Lively said. “Whenever we broke it down more and more, we found that if we don’t dribble and I just catch it and go up, that’s when I found myself more consistent.
“It took a lot of reps, though.”
Most times, there is no substitute for practice. Lively is a rarity in that there aren’t many NBA players who have shot free throws without at least one dribble. Probably the most notable was Earl Boykins, a 5-5 point guard who had a 13-year NBA career starting in 1998.
During the playoffs, Lively has been a competent free-throw shooter. He’s made 60.9 percent in the Mavericks’ 13 games. However, since Game 3 of the OKC series, Lively has hit 68 percent while taking an average of five free throws per game (17-of-25).
That’s good production for a rookie 7-footer who makes his living primarily in the paint.
And by the way, that could change before too much longer.
Lively is building a reputation as a terrific force in the paint at both ends of the court. He can protect the rim on defense and is quick enough to defend pick-and-roll coverages. Offensively, he’s a rim-running threat who also is a strong rebounder.
But he knows in this era of the NBA that he will have to add dimensions to his game.
“Coming into this first season, it was about just earning my spot, showing what I can do,” Lively said. “I think this summer, it’s going to come down to me being in the gym and being disciplined. I know I can shoot. I just got to prove it.”
That will come in practices, in shootarounds, in the offseason, he said. And Lively already takes a lot of corner threes during shooting sessions with his teammates.
It will take a lot of repetition, he said.
“But at this time, why would I want to take a three if I got Luka (Dončić) and Kai (Kyrie Irving) coming off a screen to get a wide-open three,” he said. “They’re going to shoot it better than I am. But . . . I’m definitely going to shoot threes.”
And his free-throw shooting is proof that Lively has a good touch when it comes to shooting the ball.
“It’s a process. A long process,” he said. “And it comes down to being more comfortable with your game to expand it. Whenever you truly feel like you’ve mastered something, that’s when you slowly start to expand yourself to try to add other things.”
And because of how comfortable he’s getting at the free-throw line, he says nobody is going to try to change his catch-and-shoot routine.
“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “Get it, lock in, shoot it, put it in the basket.”
X: @ESefko
Share and comment