Matthew Dellavedova has had an almost unprecedented leap in popularity, the likes of which we have not seen since ‘Linsanity’. Two good games, and all of the sudden everybody loved Delly. He played great defense on MVP Stephen Curry, and was a big part of the Cavs taking a 2-1 lead in the series. Did the hype go too far? absolutely. Dellavedova definitely played great defense, which took eyes away from his horrendous inefficiency. In the postseason thus far, he has shot a terrible 36.3% from the field. Even worse, that shooting percentage was not at all an anomaly. In fact, it was right in line with his regular season field goal percentage(36.2%).
Needless to say, the hype surrounding the Australian point guard went too far. His hometown re-named a stadium after him after just two good games. Apparently the Warriors, including Curry, weren’t too pleased with all the attention that Dellavedova has been getting.
While there are many who have scoffed at the idea that Dellavedova locked up Curry, such as Charles Barkley and Curry himself, a lot of fans(particularly those of the Cleveland variety) have lauded Dellavedova for his defensive efforts, and the Warriors are sick of it.
From Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group:
Sources within the Warriors’ organization say they were “pissed off” and “irked” by the media attention Dellavedova was receiving and the narrative of the Australian “locking down” the league’s MVP.
As for Curry, he was annoyed too, I’m told.
“People have lit a fire under Steph, which is good thing,” Andrew Bogut told NEOMG. “It’s something that you don’t want to do. It worked out well. We know Delly is a great defender, but we know he’s not a Curry stopper.”
Delly came crashing down to earth in game 4 without his usual caffeine boost, when he shot an atrocious 3-14(21.4%) from the field and allowed Stephen Curry to lead the Warriors to a 21-point victory in Cleveland. His popularity has decreased somewhat since then, but he still has a larger fanbase than most backup point guard.
In my personal opinion, nobody can totally shut down Curry. Dellavedova is a tough defender who never gives up on a play, and he has definitely impacted Curry, but Curry missed a lot of those shots just because… well, because he missed them. Everybody has off games, even the MVP.
The series is all tied up at 2-2, but the Warriors undoubtedly have the momentum heading back to Oakland after their annihilation of of the Cavaliers on the Cavs’ home turf. Game 5 will be played at 8 PM ET tonight(Sunday, June 14), and will be televised on ABC.
