“You know, if you don’t love Delly, you don’t love basketball. Seriously.”
Not 20 minutes after an eventually comfortable victory over the Boston Celtics at Quicken Loans Arena, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue shook his head in admiration at his feisty Australian guard Matthew Dellavedova, who once again played a major – if somehow still almost unseen – role in Cleveland’s win.
Trailing by 18 points at home, Lue deployed a three-guard line-up sans LeBron James in the second quarter, and watched with no small amount of satisfaction as Dellavedova, Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert combined with Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love to chase down the visitors’ advantage and establish a lead at halftime that would eventually translate to a 120-103 win, the Cavaliers’ 44th of the season.
Dellavedova played major fourth-quarter minutes as the Cavs pulled away, finishing with 10 points, four assists, a blocked shot of Boston’s All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas, and a whopping plus-26 differential.
While the majority of attention went to James for his sublime 28-point, 11-rebound, eight-assist performance, and to Shumpert for a breakout game (12 points, an incredible 16 rebounds, six at the offensive end) following a recent form slump, Lue couldn’t speak highly enough of the Maryborough native.
“Oh Delly is always great,” Lue grinned.
“Shump was great also [tonight] but Delly, you know every time he steps on the floor, I think he’s like in the top three or four guys in plus-minus in the league, and he’s a backup.”
Any wonder Lue loves his bench playmaker; the first-year coach enjoyed a similarly spirited reputation as a player over the course of his 11-season career, famously enraging Allen Iverson to the point of combat in the 2001 Finals.
Such is the high esteem Dellavedova is held in by his coaches, teammates and especially Cavaliers fans. Tracking down an Ohioan willing to say a bad word about Dellavedova right now is like finding a left-handed screwdriver.
And while the rest of the NBA might not be so quick to sing his praises, especially some of his playoff opponents last year, put them all under sodium pentothal or similar truth-telling serums and the vast majority would likely admit to wanting him on their own squads.
For his part, the self-deprecating Dellavedova was quick to play down the praise, but at the same time acknowledged just how big an impact Lue has had on his own development.
“Well that’s a lot of gas but I appreciate it,” Dellavedova chuckled.
“I mean, he’s been great for me, he was the defensive coach under Coach Blatt, so I worked pretty closely with him before this as well, especially during the playoffs last year.
“So I’ve learned a lot off him and him being a former point guard as well who played for a number of years in the league, I try to pick his brains and he’ll give me different things, tips and tricks to put in my game.
“I mean, it just helps a lot, I don’t know that you can put a percentage on it but it’s been very helpful.”
The night before, Dellavedova was asked the major difference between Lue and former coach David Blatt, who was sensationally given his marching orders in February despite the Cavaliers holding the Eastern Conference’s best record at 30-11.
The Cavs have gone 14-6 under Lue since then, but as far as Dellavedova is concerned, there’s no discernible difference in his own role.
“Not a whole lot has changed for me. I had a good relationship with Coach Lue, he was our defensive coach so I worked pretty closely with him.
“Just trying to play with a bit more pace really.”
Hugely apropos then, that Dellavedova would describe Lue’s advice as helpful and the new game-plan to play up-tempo, given his own value to the Cavaliers and his rapid rise from undrafted free agent to bona-fide NBA player.
It’s four years to the day since Dellavedova and his Saint Mary’s teammates cut down the nets at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas after an incredible overtime victory in the West Coast Conference championship decider against Gonzaga.
And to put it mildly, a hell of a lot has changed.
Back then, Dellavedova was a solid collegiate point guard, ably taking the reins of the team after countryman Patty Mills graduated and headed to the NBA.
(As an aside, Mills was watching from the stands that day, his playing career temporarily stuck in limbo after a disastrous stint in China, and the Portland Trailblazers unable to fit him on their roster.)
If anyone at the time had suggested Dellavedova was going to do the same and have just as big an impact as his playmaking predecessor in the big leagues, they would have been laughed out of the room – and quickly at that.
A playing career in Europe or back home in Australia’s NBL beckoned, just another member of the long line of Australian college players who converted their amateur athletic experiences into a successful second-tier professional existence, albeit one carved out in relative anonymity.
Problem was, no one told Dellavedova that.
Parlaying a summer-league invite from the Cavaliers into a roster spot was only the first unexpected step from a player who, by his own account, has had all this happen in what feels like the blink of an eye.
Back-to-back home games over the weekend against Washington and the aforementioned Celtics showed just how crucial Dellavedova has become to the Cavs’ chances of returning to the NBA Finals, a stage where the 25-year-old had a major impact against the eventual-champion Golden State Warriors.
It’s the second quarter against Washington and the Cavs have steadily worked their way to a 39-27 advantage when the home team gets out on a break. Dellavedova runs with his head down, sprinting to ‘his’ spot on the floor, from there the ball gets worked around the three-point arc as the Cavs make extra pass after extra pass, finally finding the Australian alone in the corner.
Bend. Flex. Release. Swish. Mayhem.
The Australian checks back in again with two minutes remaining in the quarter, and does the same thing, dribbling, probing and launching when left open.
Bend. Flex. Release. Swish. Mayhem.
There’s a reason Dellavedova stays in the league and the Jimmer Freddettes of the world cannot.
He returns to the game at the five-minute mark of the third period and when he gets an open look from deep it’s genuinely surprising he misses. The groan of disappointment from the crowd is almost parental in its affection.
A drive early in the fourth takes his tally to 12 as he receives extended minutes, with the Cavs blowing out the Wizards in an eventual 108-83 beatdown that gave the hosts a large measure of vengeful gratification after Washington’s big win the last time the two teams crossed paths.
Speaking after the game, Dellavedova’s face lit up when reminded of the second-quarter ball movement.
“That play reminded me of Saint Mary’s, that’s how we played all the time, where the ball would swing back around to the person who made the drive at the start.
“When the ball is moving like that there is more energy and you rarely see someone miss a shot, someone is open and they know the ball is coming to them so they’re ready to shoot. Hopefully we can keep doing that going forward.
“We definitely moved the ball well, once you start doing that it definitely becomes more contagious. It’s a fun way to play and it’s obviously effective, as we saw tonight, so hopefully that continues going forward.”
There was more of the same against the Celtics the following night, Dellavedova repeatedly finding himself in the thick of the action, handing out four assists and just as importantly, not once turning the ball over, maintaining his position as one of the best in the league for assist-to-turnover ratio.
Three-point shooting and ball control. Two staples of the pace-and-space modern NBA, and Dellavedova is all too aware of their importance, making a concerted effort to work on both aspects of his game over the off-season.
“I think three-point shooting in the NBA is now quite valuable, and with the way the game is heading, it’s only going to become more valuable, with the floor spacing.
“And teams are playing smaller, having more people who can handle the ball and make shots out on the floor so I think that’s important to keep working on.
“And I always want to have that good assist-to-turnover ratio as a point guard; playing with the Boomers, being more aggressive, having to make more plays and just being in a different role, that always helps me come back having a more aggressive mindset.”
Regardless of the Cavs’ championship aspirations, of James’ quest to end half a century of Cleveland sports futility and cement his legacy as the overlord of Ohio forever, Dellavedova is desperately trying to somehow remain focused and still stop for a moment to take it all in.
“My two-and-a-half years at the Institute (of Sport) went like that,” Dellavedova snaps his fingers.
“My four years at Saint Mary’s went like that and you know, I blink and I’m in my third NBA season.
“It’s gone really quickly and I’m just trying to enjoy it all along the way and make the most of it, because it’s definitely going by quickly.”
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