Dellavedova made quite a mark as a gritty gamer at nearby
Saint Mary's College over four years. But he made an even more striking
impression Sunday night at Oracle Arena, stepping in for injured All-Star Kyrie
Irving on basketball's biggest stage.
Dellavedova scored just nine points, but he made pivotal
plays late in overtime to preserve Cleveland's 95-93 victory over the Warriors'
in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
After James Jones missed a 3-point jumper with 11.1 seconds
left and the Cavaliers trailing by a point, Dellavedova crashed the boards,
snatched an offensive rebound, drew a foul and confidently sank two free throws
with 10.1 seconds to go that gave Cleveland the lead back.
Then, at the other end of the floor, he harassed the league
MVP, Stephen Curry, into a bad miss with seven seconds to go, pumping his fist
after making the stop, and the Warriors never got a better chance to win it.
Dellavedova didn't have that great of a stat line: 3-for-10
shooting (1 for 6 from 3-point range), and he committed six turnovers. But he
played Curry tough -- the MVP was 0 for 8 shooting with four turnovers when
defended by Dellavedova in half-court offense -- and made the kind of heady,
scrappy plays he was known for in Moraga from 2009-13. He also played 42
minutes after just nine in Game 1. He maintained he was not intimidated by the
challenge.
"I just tried to make sure I was really hydrated,"
he said. "That was probably the main thing."
Not surprisingly, "Delly" was the toast of the
Cavaliers locker room after another huge playoff performance in place of
Irving, who is out for the rest of the Finals after having surgery to repair a
fractured kneecap.
"He's unique in his own way," said LeBron James,
who led the Cavaliers' Game 2 upset with 39 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists.
"Obviously, he's a guy that's been counted out his whole life by people
who've said he's too small, he's not fast enough, can't shoot enough, can't
handle it good enough. He's beaten the odds so many times, and the confidence
we have in him allows him to be confident in himself.
"He goes out and just plays his tail off, and a guy who
does that gets great results."
Cleveland coach David Blatt was just as effusive as James
about the second-year player from Australia.
"You know, he did what he has been doing every time
that we've put him in that position," said Blatt. "He's a courageous
kid that plays right. There was a lot of nonsense swirling around about his
style of play. I think anyone that looks at him objectively recognizes someone
that just plays hard, heartfelt, and tough basketball."
When the news came down about Irving on Friday, fewer people
were giving the Cavs much of a chance in the series against the Warriors, who
were already favored. And while Dellavedova had strong games in both the
Chicago and Atlanta series victories, not many were giving him much of a chance
to guard the elusive sharpshooter Curry.
Dellavedova said he wasn't listening to any of the talk.
"I don't really pay attention to anything outside of
the locker room, because none of that stuff really matters," he said.
"As for the motivation part, it's the NBA Finals, and if you need any extra
motivation, you probably shouldn't be playing."
Dellavedova said that the offensive rebound "just came
to me. ... I was lucky" and that the two clutch free throws didn't unnerve
him.
"That's the classic thing you practice as a kid growing
up, down one you need to make free throws," he said. "I feel like
I've been in that situation many times before."
Dellavedova went into the challenge of guarding Curry
knowing he wasn't going to win the battle every time.
"Even if you play good defense, he's going to hit some
tough shots," he said. "So you just have to keep defending him and
make it as hard as possible."
Warriors guard Klay Thompson said it was his fault
Dellavedova got the crucial offensive rebound, but he praised the former Gaels
star.
"He had a few good plays there at the end, some big
shots as well," Thompson said. "I forgot to box him out on that last
possession where he got the foul, and I'm going to think about that for a long
time. It's tough, but you've got to give him credit. He made big plays."
Teammate J.R. Smith said, "He's probably one of the
toughest competitors I've ever met."
