Pest isn't always a bad thing
By Kevin Scheitrum, NBA International
OAKLAND, Calif. – Calling Matthew Dellavedova, a 'pest'? That's high praise, said teammate J.R. Smith.
But not quite as high as what Smith had in mind.
"He does all the little things that people won't even look for to keep them off balance," Smith said. "You look at all the great defensive players in the league, the Tony Allens, Iman [Shumpert], and Delly's right up there."
With just one day to go before Game 2 of the NBA Finals and Cavaliers All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving out for the series, Dellavedova was the talk of the Oracle Center on Saturday. If the Cavaliers are going to even up the series on Sunday and have , those hopes run straight through the Aussie-born rookie, and his ability to disrupt what the Warriors plan to do.
"He's a pest," Klay said. "He knows his role and he's a fighter. He competes at a high level."
"He's like that fly at the barbecue that won't leave you alone," Smith said. "It's great. When he's on your team you love him but if he's not you hate him. He's active. He contests every shot. He boxes out."
But what does a pest look like, by the numbers?
Dellavedova has been a serviceable on-ball defender during the Playoffs. Per SportVU, players he's guarded this postseason have shot actually 2 percent better against Dellavedova than the average across the league. That said, they have shot 1.4 percent worse from 3-point range.
But Dellavedova's true value comes in his team defense and his ability to change the pace of the game.
"The first thing I'd say about him is he plays at one level: aggressive and hard, which is what you want from a defensive player," said Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams. "He plays with a certain type of abandon. A certain type of hustle. He doesn't give up on plays. He's what you want as a defensive player.
"He sees the game pretty well. He sees the pictures of the game well. Thinks the game well," Adams said. "He's playing with a guy who thinks the game extremely well, and they seem to have a good relationship. Don't minimize the fact that when you play with a great player, it rubs off."
His individual stats don't tell the Delly story, though only one Cavalier has a better defensive rating (96.7 points allowed per 100 possessions) than Delly this postseason: rim-protector Timofey Mozgov.
But when you look at his lineups, Dellavedova's impact starts to come into view.
When Dellavedova's on the court with LeBron, Shumpert, Smith and Tristan Thompson, the Cavs have posted a NetRtg (difference in points and points allowed, per 100 possessions) of 20.7 -- their second-best mark of any lineup. That comes with a defensive rating of 91.3.
Insert Mozgov into that lineup for J.R.? Defensive rating drops to 83.6 and NetRtg explodes to 30.7.
What do those teams have in common? Slower pace and rebounding.
The Cavs play at a 93.1-possession pace (per 48 minutes) with Dellavedova on the floor – the fourth-slowest number on the floor. With Irving, that number jumps to 95.27.
When the Cavaliers slowed the Hawks down in the Western Conference Finals, they won. Handily. Atlanta had played at a 96.25 pace during the regular season, swinging the ball around and hammering teams in transition. Against the Cavs, that number slipped to 93.1 across four straight losses.
In Game 1 of that series, the Hawks scored just 80.5 points per 100 possessions in the 24 minutes that Dellavedova was on the floor.
Delly's teams tend to combine a slow pace with extended possessions. The Delly/Mozgov/Shumpert/Thompson/LeBron grabs 68 percent of available rebounds. While Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Shaun Livingston led all three-man lineups with a 62.9 REB% in the first three rounds of the Playoffs, Dellavedova, LeBron were Mozgov are second at 60.2 percent.
"He'll crash the offensive glass a lot. He's not afraid to box anybody out. He's not afraid to give a hard foul," Thompson said. "Just those little things. Our bigs should do a great job screening to give Steph some space."
Which means Dellavedova's going to see a whole lot of countryman Andrew Bogut. And while Dellavedova's shown a willingness to fight through screens against everybody, he might have some extra incentive after Bogut teased that he wouldn't have given Delly a ride home, had the Cavs guard called him after he missed the team bus post-Game 1.
"Probably not now," Bogut said with a smile. "Maybe in the regular season. Maybe in the regular season. It's all right. Uber isn't that expensive. He'll be okay."