An Unlikely Hero
Matthew Dellavedova. Probably not the first name that comes to mind when pondering who would most help the Cavaliers these Finals. But there are many reasons why “Delly”, as he is so affectionately called, would be the perfect remedy for this series which seems to be spiraling out of control.
The Golden State Warriors seem to dominate the Cavs in almost every facet of the game, becoming a somehow improved version of their record-breaking 73 win season last year. Their one major improvement was adding a little known guy named Kevin Durant in the offseason. Durant is the most prolific scorer of the last 8 years, averaging a whopping 28.5 points per game over that stretch, (Discounting the 2014–2015 season, where he was injured and played in only 27 games). Durant in his 2013–2014 MVP season had an astounding 33% usage rate, while shooting 51% from the field. In that year, Durant was responsible for the outcome of 1 out of every 3 plays he was on the court for. Now, plug this magnificent player into an offense that averaged 115 points per game, 6 more than the team behind them. The team behind them? A Durant (and Westbrook) led Oklahoma City Thunder. Now, he was on a Warriors team that beat opponents by an average of 14 ppg and averaged 29 apg on their home court.
Wow, now this sounds like a recipe for disaster for the Cavaliers who rely heavily on their streaky 3-pt shooting and the magic of Kyrie Irving and LeBron James. But there is a blueprint for beating the Golden State Warriors, and they implemented it perfectly last year, when they came back from a 3–1 deficit to defeat the Warriors in 7 games in Oracle Arena last year. But there was one key piece on last years team that was not retained for this years finals run, Matthew Dellavedova.
Dellavedova did so many things well for the Cavaliers and was crucial in even giving the Cavs a chance in the 2015 Finals when Kyrie went down with a knee injury. Delly stepped up magnificently and played like a bat out of hell, harassing Steph Curry every time down the floor and diving for every ball, and playing with that intensity that the other Cavaliers lacked.
In the instructions for beating the Warriors, the main ingredient is to be physical, and to play tough, and to harass their shooters to try to get them out of their rhythm. To fight over screens, commit a hard foul here and there, and to set the tone for a physical series. And that is just the player Delly is. He runs hard and does most things on the basketball court fairly well. He shot 41% from 3 last season with the Cavs, and is a 6’4” guard who could give Curry some real problems finding his shot.
As the team stands right now the only player who somewhat resembles Delly’s style of play is Iman Shumpert, who is, in all honesty, a black hole on the offensive end. (in all fairness to Shumpman, he can lay down some bars) But he does not contribute to the team like Delly did for the past 2 seasons. The Cavs were just not willing to pay Delly the $9 million he got from Milwaukee, and let him go in free agency (Even if they are willing to pay this guy 13 mil a year).
In all, it is hard to say whether a guy averaging 6.2 ppg, 3.7 apg, and 1.9 rpg, over 22.4 mpg would be the difference maker in a series featuring 7 superstars, but for now we will have to be content watching Tyronn Lue look as bewildered searching for an aggressive perimeter defender as he did when Allen Iverson stepped over him in Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals.
