Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving, PJ Washington gave up honest admissions on Derek Lively II’s injury

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks were defeated 115-114 by the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. Dallas now holds a 21-23 overall record.

Injuries continue to play a big role in the Mavs’ struggles. Luka Dončić remains out of the field due to a shin injuryand on Wednesday it was revealed that Derek Lively II he is expected to miss two to three months with an ankle injury.

“That’s our big guy, man,” Irving he told reporters after the game. “The man in the middle, one of our greats, we will miss him. I just want him to be healthy, take your time, do what’s best for him.”

“It’s obviously devastating, to lose a player like that for a couple of months,” Washington said of Lively’s injury. “Right now it’s a next-man-up mentality and everyone has to come and play every night.” That being said, it’s obviously sad news, but we just have to move on.

Washington knows it has to be especially aggressive given the Mavericks’ current injury situation.

“Definitely,” Washington said knowing he needed to be extra aggressive on offense at this point. “We have to find a way to score and keep us in it.” Just be aggressive and find ways to get baskets.”

The Mavs need players to step up. Kyrie Irving scored 36 and PJ Washington added 30 on Wednesday, but the rest of the offense struggled to get much going, with Daniel Gafford scoring 14 points and Maxi Kleber adding 10, but the Mavericks still need a better all-around offensive attack.

That’s something that’s hard to find when Doncic, Lively and Klay Thompson are among the players out.

Mavs head coach Jason Kidd also shared his thoughts on the PJ Washington-Kyrie Irving game on Wednesday.

“I think he’s been aggressive since the beginning of the season,” Kidd said of Washington. “He was aggressive tonight.” I thought him and Kai set the tone for us, we need one of those guys to come up big and they both came up big tonight… We just need someone else to step up. We have a great look. I thought Kai made some great passes when he got to the rim, so hopefully those shots will come tomorrow night.”

The Mavericks play the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Thursday night for the second game of a back-to-back.