One of the stories of the NBA postseason has been the emergence of Matthew Dellavedova for the Cleveland Cavaliers as he fills in for the injured Kyrie Irving.
Delly went from averaging just over 20 minutes a game for the Cavs during the regular season to averaging 35.7 minutes per game during the conference finals against the Hawks. Not only did Delly come up big with 17 points in Game 3 of the series and a team-high 19 to close out the Bulls in Game 6 of the prior series, but he also has been integral in irritating or injuring opponents, which puts him in the discussion for being a dirty player.
Dellavedova played a major role in Taj Gibson getting ejected from Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals by putting the Bulls forward in a leg lock:
Most people felt like Gibson should not have been ejected from that game and that the referees only saw one part of what happened.
Then in Game 2 of the conference finals against the Hawks Delly dove at Kyle Korver and injured the guard’s knee, knocking him out for the playoffs:
And as shown in the video at the top, Dellavedova being all over Horford led the Hawks forward to drop an elbow on the Cavs guard. The guy seems to be an irritant of the highest order, and his tactics are paying off for the Cavs. But there is little doubt that he is upsetting other players around the league.
“He plays hard. He’s a player that plays hard. He’s a competitor, we’re out there competing, but he has to learn at the end of the day, it’s a big brotherhood here. Guys look out for each other. I don’t think it was malicious, but he’s got to learn,” Horford said of Dellavedova after the game.
Dellavedova reminds me of Dwyane Wade. He’s not as dirty as Wade is, but he is on his way. He is more inline with Chris Paul as far as his sneakiness goes.
